The Secrets of the Night
by ThePunnerLeJoueurdeMots081201
Summary: The world is ruled by the supernatural. As major conflicts threaten to break out, can a motley group with members from enemy species prevent this from happening and uncover the true meaning of these events? Discover how they came together, how they experienced friendship, angst, pain, strife, hatred, and love, and how they became legends. This is their story. NaruHina, Konoha 11.
1. Chapter 1: The beginning

The beginning

 **Hi readers! This is ThePunnerLeJoueurdeMots081201, and here's my first fanfic! It's a modern/supernatural AU, and unlike other AUs I've read, I tried to change the titles and names of special powers to make them sound a bit less Japanese and fit better into the spirit of this fic (nothing against Japanese in particular, just found that it doesn't go well with supernatural AUs like this one)** **.**

 **The universe in this story is a bit inspired by "Beast!" written by Bianca Stitch, although the plot itself is, of course, my own creation. I hope you enjoy it. Like I said in my profile, reviews are really appreciated, since they help me understand your point of view on the story, but you don't have to leave some if you have nothing in particular to say. No insults or flames, please, although constructive criticism is welcome. Read on!**

 **P.S: I will be basing myself on the English anime for all English Naruto fics, meaning no honorifics, and English names for jutsu.**

 **Disclaimer:** _ **Naruto**_ **, as a work, belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, not me. I do not earn any profits, financial or otherwise, from the creation and diffusion of this story, nor do I seek to obtain any.**

* * *

The plaza was eerily silent. Trees didn't rustle in the wind, night animals kept their quarries to themselves, and no cold gale rushed howling down the alleys. Darkness still covered the city, only slightly lifted by the street lamps' harsh pale light. But those only revealed the tarmac and the lower sections of buildings' façades, painting the stone and stucco shades of unhealthy yellows. The dark glass panels of windows and business towers reflected the scenery like mirrors, effectively concealing whatever might have gone on inside.

However, the lighting only reached up to two floors at the most. The upper sections of the buildings were still completely obscured, like dark monoliths hovering over the square. Shadows seemed to slither down the façades into the illuminated plaza, lurking between each light field, casted off from pipes and hydrants and the like.

As the clock in Namikaze Plaza turned to read 4:27 AM, the pocket of darkness in the space between two old industrial buildings _moved_.

The oily-black curtain draped over the passageway shifted and undulated. It was a fortunate occurrence there was no witness to this scene who might have had a certain faintness of heart, for they would surely have lost consciousness at the sight. The shady silhouette sliding along one of the buildings' brick wall didn't look wholly unsuspicious either. As they progressed, they seemed desperate to avoid the street lamps' field of lighting as much as possible, slipping from each dark and narrow alleyway bordering the plaza into another.

The figure's outline was likeable to that of a human being, but their speed and agility were far superior to said species' physical abilities. The swiftness of their pace, the nimbleness with which they ducked, and the perfect coordination they maintained while executing these movements were almost too perfect to pass off as entirely natural. However, those qualities soon proved meaningless.

While the unknown individual stepped out of the darkness for a mere moment, a blur dropped from a balcony perched on the façade of the closest apartment building. Landing soundlessly just a meter away from the silhouette in a agile crouch, the newcomer then pounced on them and dragged them into a dark corner within a second.

If the first newcomer was fast and nimble, the latest one put them to shame. There was something more _animal_ in the way they moved, in addition to their unaltered state after their three-storey jump and landing, that also put their humanity in question.

In the semi-obscurity of the alley, not far from a flickering lamp post, the assaulted was thrashing wildly, attempting to escape from the death grip their aggressor had on the cowl of their shirt. However, the latter cut these attempts short with a growled-out warning.

"Try and make a single noise, pal," the menacing individual whispered, face obscured by an equally intimidating mask, "and I'll rip your vocal cords out. Got it?"

The threatened one, apparently holding value to their voice, hastily nodded.

"Good. Now, you're coming with me. Yeah, you know what I'm talkin' about. Come on, don't gimme that look. You know what happens to those of you who go rogue. _We_ hunt you down. You tried to betray your kind, and now you have to pay for it."

Suddenly, the speaker, now identified as male, sharply turned his head towards the alley his captive had emerged from. Eyes narrowed behind his mask, he turned back and addressed the latter:

"I'm gonna let you answer this question right now: who did ya piss off? 'Cause I'm sensing a few people heading toward us, and given their level, I'm smelling something fishy here."

Shaking their head frantically, the victim quickly stuttered a few words in a low tone, which made the captor's eyes widen.

"Damn you bastards! Why do you always have to go and stir shit up?" he cursed. "Ugh, can't fight those guys with you in tow, I have to get you outta here now."

With these words, the attacker raised his hand in a strange gesture: palm axed horiszontally, his thumb, pinkie, ring and middle fingers half-flexed, with his index raised upward.

The night air around both individuals rippled, humming with energy as their silhouettes became distorted, like a nocturnal mirage. Suddenly, harsh red light flashed into existence, and a vortex of crimson radiance engulfed them in a spiral of power. The glowing red plasma whirled furiously, its liquid-like flows churning like a maelstrom, but hot enough to leave a blackened pattern on the tarmac around the area of formation. All round, street lamps' bulbs exploded into showers of glass fragments, smoke rising from the husks and sparks falling to the ground.

When the vortex finally dissipated, red light sediments floating out into the night and dissolving shortly afterwards, no trace of the pair besides the lamps remained; the scorch mark evaporated into nothingness.

A few seconds later, four silhouettes stepped out of the alley's shadow. They inspected the spot where the two previous characters had discussed, looking in every direction. Not a word was uttered during this investigation, which majorly consisted of simply... _staring_ at every nook and cranny of the street, as well as occasional _sniffing._

Finally, one of them raised their hand, stopping the search. They regrouped under a street lamp, the lighting tinting their pale skin an unhealthy shade of yellow.

"Enough for now. Has any of you discovered a clue regarding his trail?" the leader asked in a stern, masculine voice.

His long brown hair, visible in the lamps' light, reached between his shoulders, and he was the tallest of the foursome.

His subordinates all shook their heads. One, with short black hair, chose to answer first.

"Sorry, I can't seem to smell the direction he went in. His scent leads here, but doesn't extend any further after that. It's like he simply vanished into thin air."

"I didn't catch anything with my eyes either," the next one added - a male with spiky, swept-back hair.

"Well… I might have seen something," the last one declared, catching the rest of the group's attention.

She was the only female present, with long, blue-black hair. She was also the shortest, forcing her to raise her head to meet the others' eyes, which made her squint against the harsh yellow light.

"Really? What is it?" the leader questioned.

"I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I believe there are some traces of another energy here. It's faint, but it looks like it's from a powerful source. I think…" she paused for an instant before continuing, "I think it's demonic."

The others didn't make a sound, but their eyes widened ever so slightly. The one in charge started examining the area again, a slight change in his own orbs. After a moment, he stopped, and his gaze returned to normal.

"You're right," he affirmed. "I had dismissed it at first because I thought it was part of his trail. But now that you've pointed it out, I can see that there are sediments of another energy all around us."

This time, the spiky-haired one reacted.

"Are you sure, Neji?" he inquired. "It could be just a wizard trying to fool us."

"No," the leader countered. "I'm positive it belongs to a demon. Which means our target was probably caught by one of their rogue hunters. They are most likely the ones detaining him now."

"But I thought only our species knew about his betrayal," intervened the shorter-haired individual. "Wasn't the whole point of this mission to capture him before anyone else learned about it?"

"The demons always seem to know everything before anyone else," responded Neji. "Their clans have information networks all over the world, especially in cities like this one."

The female lowered her head and sighed quietly.

"I suppose there is no point in trying to continue this mission now."

The spiky-haired one grunted.

"What a pain," he dropped. "All this agitation and griping for nothing. Let's just leave already."

"I'm sure you want to eat before your stomach growls and you embarrass yourself in front of anyone, Sasuke" the other black-haired male said in a friendly tone. "This would most likely damage your reputation, wouldn't it?"

Sasuke just scowled and sent a murderous glare at his offender, his eyes suddenly turning scarlet, which immediately shut the other up. Only he had that effect on him.

"Sasuke, Sai, please don't start again," pleaded the woman.

"Hinata is right," cut Neji. "You are both acting like children. Let's report to Lord Hiashi and the Council first."

The four vampires vanished into the night, so fast one could have sworn they had teleported. No evidence of the events that had just taken place remained. The only witness was the still slumbering city, its human inhabitants blissfully unaware. Unaware of the creatures that lurked in the darkness of nights, unaware of the conflicts between them, unaware of the dangers that could befall them any day. And which might very well befall them soon.

* * *

"You're back early, Nine. I take it you got the target?"

The speaker was a tall, imposing man clad in a black trench coat, a headkerchief covering his skull. His square, scarred face was locked into a menacing frown, but his most intimidating feature was his piercing black eyes. His gaze held a kind of intensity, a sort of fierce cunning and intelligence only found in a certain type of living beings.

Predators.

Apex predators.

"Yup, he's right here with me," the target of his question answered, hiding the tremor in his voice.

It was the kidnapper from the streets. Hoisting his unconscious prisoner on his shoulder, he turned to face the speaker. For once, he was glad the mask was hiding the beads of sweat running down his forehead. The teleportation had taken a bigger toll on him that he was comfortable admitting.

He was dressed in a black commando outfit: combat boots, trouser pants, a sleeveless bulletproof vest, leather gloves, and a harness over it all. His mask looked like a cross between a kitsune (fox spirit) and an oni (demon or ogre): a canine snout, fox ears and revealed fangs combined with red color and horns procuring from the forehead.

"Guess he passed out from the trip," he then noted, his tone more stable. "Man, vampires are slacking off if they allow idiots like him to serve under the Council. That dumbass let himself wide open. Honestly, I'm surprised to be the first one to have caught him. By the way, the seeker-vampires almost caught up to us."

"We'd warned you the council would send people after him," his interlocutor replied. "Did you kill them? You know, you're going to spark a war if you keep this up."

"Oh come on!" the other complained. "When are you gonna let that go? I beat up a werewolf team once, Ibiki. _Once!_ And none of'em died! They were just pissing me off, acting all cocky..."

"Straying off-topic, Nine. What happened?"

"Had to retreat before they could find us," the one named Nine admitted. "This guy right here," he went on, pointing the passed-out shape on his shoulder, "told me the Hyūga lord wanted him gone before any other race knew about this, so he decided to send out one of his best teams after him. I think they kinda went overboard for a guy like that."

"Who?" Ibiki demanded, eyes narrowing.

"The Soul Stalkers," Nine revealed. "Those guys are usually the ones who complete the executions or elite recons. 'Course, I don't know who they actually are, but I've heard they're on a whole other level than the rest of the seekers."

Ibiki's face retained the same unshakable expression, but his eyes darkened. He turned his gaze to the unconscious rogue vampire the hunter had captured.

"Which means this guy here probably escaped with something very valuable to the vampires," he mused.

"Uh, isn't that good for us?" Nine inquired, obviously confused at his senior's reaction. "I mean, finders keepers, right?"

"Still as dense as ever, kid," Ibiki commented, ignoring the outraged exclamation he received in response. "I'll have to talk to the emperor about this, but it means the vampires are going to do everything in their power to get him back ASAP."

"What can they do?" the hunter asked, shrugging. "They can't access this place on their own, and if they wanna keep this a secret, they won't ask anyone else for help."

"No, but they'll start drowning us in diplomatic threats and try to intimidate us into releasing him. They might even take this to the Head of Leaftown, say we captured a loyal vampire in order to obtain information about them."

"But they know it's our job to hunt down rogue supernaturals!" Nine protested. "The Assembly will figure out the vamps are telling bullshit!"

"Language, Nine!" his superior reprimanded. "The Head may be on our side, but we're not exactly popular with the rest of the species. Their representatives will jump at the chance to gain an advantage over us."

The younger demon sighed.

"Why does it have to be so complicated?"

"Because this is how the world works, brat," Ibiki replied tersely. "Everything's related to some political power play in some way. Besides, other species have always feared or despised us. Since they aren't too pleased with the fact that we're more powerful than them, they'll try to weaken us whenever they get the opportunity."

"Bastards," Nine muttered, almost growling.

"Enough with the self-pity. Throw the prisoner in Cell Zeta 369" the other ordered. "I don't trust the guards to do it themselves, and we need a secure cell. I'll report to Emperor Ashina about this. Afterwards, go home. Don't you have school tomorrow?"

"Why did you have to remind me?" the younger demon groaned, his palm coming to rest on the forehead of his mask. "I got an assignment in Physics, and I'm not even half-done!"

"Do I look like I care?" Ibiki inquired. "Now scram!"

"Fine, fine," Nine mumbled.

For the second time this night, he made the strange hand sign, and the whirling red aura surrounded him and the captive.

A few seconds later, they had disappeared.

* * *

 **There you have it. The first chapter of my first story. What did you think? Did you like it? Please point out any error I may have made in the reviews, or PM me if you're signed in. I know it's kinda short, but as the title suggests, it's just the beginning. Don't worry, chapters will get longer. There will be more action later on, for those of you that were disappointed, as well as explanations.**

 **For future chapters: if you think some elements could be better, please describe them precisely and give reasons in the reviews. I'll consider them, doesn't mean I'll change everything put into question. No flames or insults, please, or I'll block anonymous reviews and signal offending non-guests. Remember, this is my first fanfic, so please be considerate.**

 **Hope you enjoyed it. I'm gonna try to stick with this to the very end, since I really want to finish it. Until the next update, then, which I promise I'll make as soon as possible. R &R, please!**

 **ThePunnerLeJoueurdeMots081201**


	2. Chapter 2: The world of the supernatural

The world of the supernatural

 **Hello** , **readers! The second chapter is here, and it is slightly longer. I would like to thank Guest and Shadow the Dark Arcanine for my first reviews so far. I would also like to thank goNxH, a fellow author that has helped me develop my ideas on NaruHina.**

 **This chapter has more action, and there are explanations, like I said in the first one. Hope you like it. Now on with the story!**

 **Disclaimer:** _ **Naruto**_ **, as a work, belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, not me. I do not earn any profits, financial or otherwise, from the creation and diffusion of this story, nor do I seek to obtain any.**

* * *

The first day of spring began with a bright but cold morning. In the streets, the passerbys walked briskly in an attempt to keep warm. Shopkeepers were rolling up the iron curtains and unveiling their windows. Car engines were starting across the streets, their drone echoing across parkings, avenues, and driveways. Honking buses and trucks were already driving down the roads, tires crunching on the asphalt, brakes screeching as the vehicles came across intersections, exhaust gases permeating the air. Those were not the only scents in the atmosphere - open food stands were also opening up, and the smell of grease and frying was drifting up the façades of buildings. Windows were also opening to freshen up apartment bedrooms, and blinds were being lifted in order to let natural light in. Subway trains were emerging from underground tunnels, crossing metal bridges in a cacophony of clanking, howling, and grinding noises, filled with early morning employees or late night workers returning to their homes. In offices, janitors were turning the lights on, preparing for the upcoming flood of people. All across town, citizens were waking up and street lights turning off.

Compared to the dark, dormant place of the previous night, Leaftown gave the impression of an awakening but already active and bustling city. The capital of Fireland was one of the top five metropoles in the world. Its population neared four million citizens, and it stretched on about 150 kilometers square. Its economy was the best in the country, with dozens of international companies having their headquarters in its business district. World-wide famous touristic places and a wide range of numerous touristic accommodations were a vast reason for that, along with a dominant sector in high technology, specifically digital industry. Many Firelanders from more provincial territories dreamed of moving there; however, the high cost of living was a deterrent factor in that course of action.

However, like in most modern urban conurbations, this shiny, appealing image offered by tourism agencies and advertisement conveniently covered up the less attractive aspects of the city. The "City Hidden in the Leaves", as it had come to be known thanks to the surrounding Hashirama Senju Natural Park, also hid a significant deal of social unrest and fragility caused by the last great economic crisis it had suffered. Poverty among the populations of the outermost districts, crime (which included drug trafficking and firearms dealing), all the violence… and a great number of other issues went on in the dark abysses below the shimmering surface of this vast ocean.

And right at this very moment, something the city advertisement would _definitely_ not show to newcomers was transpiring in a dark back alley near the recently impoverished Senju District. This area was currently reputed as one of the most dangerous in Leaftown, with more than a dozen aggressions having occurred in the past three weeks. What was occurring at this moment in the narrow space between two buildings was a perfect example of the reason for this.

"Well, lookie here. Check out that babe, Echizen! Is she hot or is she burnin'?" asked a scruffy individual, admiring a girl about two meters away.

Said female scrunched her nose, as if she could catch the disgusting stench of the two hoodlums who had emerged from another street. She didn't back up before them, but rather sighed before shaking her head, looking rather out of place in this obscure and dirty street.

The girl wore a purple T-shirt that hugged her generous chest and hips too well to be covered by her white cotton jacket, as well as black khakis, and had a school bag strapped on her right shoulder. She did not seem affected by the cold morning air.

This young lady was indeed quite a beauty: pale-white skin, enticing curves, an oval, fairy-like face, a small nose, soft lips, straight dark hair–it was difficult to tell the color in the feeble light of the alley–cascading mid-back, long bangs framing her face and falling on her shoulders, a hime-style fringe covering her forehead…

And finally those hypnotizing, pupilless, pale lavender eyes.

"Oh, she's vaporizin', Chūya," whistled the second one, almost whispering. "Her boobs look like at least a C-cup. And her legs ain't too bad either."

Having apparently heard that comment despite the low tone, and now thoroughly irritated with the pair, the young lady took in a deep breath–which drew even more attention to her admirable chest–and tried to keep her cool.

"Please, guys, just go on," she pleaded. "I don't want any trouble."

"Dude, she's a D, easy," muttered the one named Chūya before responding; however, she also seemed to catch this, which made her bristle even more.

"Trouble?" he repeated, a leery grin on his dirty face. "Why would there be any trouble? By the way, what's a pretty girl like you doin' here? You know, it can be very unsafe in these parts."

The young woman could hear the chuckle in his voice, and almost scoffed. She decided to give them one more chance…

"So, Echizen, whaddya think? Should we let this babe wander all by herself in this dangerous city?" Chūya questioned, turning to his companion with an all but benevolent smirk.

"Nope, Chūya," Echizen replied, the same ill-boding grin on his dirty face. "We should be gentlemen and help'er find her way."

"I gotta agree with ya here, buddy," his friend said, still smirking.

They both started to walk toward their supposed prey. This clearly wasn't the first time they had committed something like this. Skimming the walls in order to leave the target no room to escape, arms stretched out, fingers hooked like claws... they had had experience, the girl thought, repulsed. With their beer-stained, smelly clothing, dirty and ruffled black hair, brutish and alcohol-dazed traits, their eyes wide open with primitive lust, they were the very picture of debauchery and unrestrained, base instincts. No better than animals, really. However, they had made a grave mistake by thinking their new object of desire was as defenseless as the previous ones.

At this point, said girl's patience had all but run out. Their mere presence now made her want to retch. As it seemed like they would not be leaving anytime zoo, she needed to put these attentions down. Sighing, she dropped her bag and rotated her head and shoulders. Almost immediately, she fell into a fighting stance: her left foot angled perpendicularly to her body, the leg supporting most of her weight; her right hand stretched outward, palm facing forward, while the other was tucked back near her hip, bottom turned upward.

The hoodlums opened their mouths to jeer her intention of defending herself; none of their previous victims had ever managed to resist the both of them, despite their attempts. However, as they were about to speak, the veins around their interlocutor's eyes suddenly bulged, becoming visible as they thickened. Additionally, the faint outline of a pupil appeared in the normally uniform irises, troubling the clear, opalescent tint and giving the orbs a somewhat frightening look.

Then, before the two males could even blink, she vanished. She had been standing before them, motionless, and in the blink of an eye, with a sudden draft, she was gone from their sight. As they halted their progress, dumbfounded, a blurry silhouette rushed up from behind them. It was moving too fast for any human to catch with the naked eye, leaving only an afterimage with vague outlines. Immediately, their eyes bulged out as their bodies suddenly jerked from the neck and thorax, as if from invisible impacts.

After only a second or two, they fell like puppets with cut strings, blood leaking out of their mouths. They were unconscious before they hit the ground; they had been hit on the nape and in the solar plexus, knocking them out almost instantly. Their limp bodies collapsed on the tarmac, revealing the girl's figure towering over them.

As her eyes returned to their initial state, she shook her head. She usually preferred to avoid violence, but she never held any pity for criminals. Especially rapists. And because of the drug and alcohol in their blood, she couldn't even get a good meal out of them, either.

She spared a glance at her watch and gasped. It was almost 8:30! If she dawdled any longer, she would arrive late at school! Picking up her bag, she quickly exited the alley and started running up the street–at human speed, of course. While she may have looked like one, she wasn't.

No, this girl was a vampire. And not just any vampire: this was Lady Hinata Hyūga, daughter of Lord Hiashi Hyūga, who currently held the highest position in Leaftown's Vampire Council. However there was a world of difference between her and the mushy, ridiculous parody of a portrayal of her kind painted by human movies and series. Actual vampires did not glow in the sun, fall in love with humans, or live tragic love stories. The reality was both much less exciting to human teenagers in need of angsty sentimental drama, and much more dangerous.

The Hyūga Clan classified as one of the most ancient and powerful vampiric lines in history. They had been feared and respected for their size, influence, and the peril they represented for hundreds of years. The special ability in their eyes was the main reason they had managed to stay at the top of the hierarchy for so long. When this special talent was activated, they could see with an almost 360-degrees angle in a radius that could span entire kilometers. They were also able to distinguish every cell in the humanoid body and perceive how energy flowed through muscles and organs. This had allowed the clan to develop a unique fighting style based on targeting vital organs and energy points, called the Gentle Fist. Coupling their supernatural strength with the incredible accuracy provided by their sight, they were able to inflict fatal damage in extremely restricted body areas. Over time, their visual power had become known as the White Eye because of the pale color of their irides. These special skills the Hyūga possessed, which they had spent eons honing and perfecting to create the ultimate martial art, had granted them a place at the top of the vampire hierarchy, and had played a major role in making the vampire species so feared and influent.

As for Hinata, her life had not been so smooth as some may have believed. Her mother had been a human, against all odds of that happening within her kind. As such, she was a half-vampire, which wasn't a very favorable status within a house as elitist as hers. Additionally, she had inherited her mother's compassionate personality, which conflicted with the valors of her clan, and had made her training in Hyūga skills that much harder. She disliked hurting others in sparring sessions, and thus often lost, even to those younger than her. This had caused her father to grow disappointed in her performances and to turn to her prodigious younger sister, Hanabi. Despite having the same mother, the latter did not hold the same reservations as her sibling.

This did not mean that Hinata had been talentless. She would have been considered well suited for physical combat in the vast majority of other vampire clans. However, to the Hyūga, she had not even been average, and this had certainly not been good enough for the clan heiress. So they had stripped her of her title, passing it on to Hanabi, and leaving her with a broken confidence, low self-esteem, and undeveloped capacities. She had become a shy, withdrawn person, with a bad stuttering problem, and had started giving up each time she had trouble with a training exercise. As a result, the clan's respect for the head's daughter had dropped significantly. A few high-placed members had even begun putting her down when they addressed her, speaking with a condescending tone. She had received no support, no encouragement whatsoever from her family. Within the Hyūga, natural talent was considered the highest mark of honor, and it came with proving one's worth on their own. That had been something Hinata had miserably failed to do, at least in the clan's eyes.

However, when Hinata had turned sixty-five (the vampire equivalent of thirteen in human years), a change had occurred. She had begun to work harder on her training, rising back up when she fell during practice, and even trying to answer to the clanmates that talked down to her. As a result, her skills had improved slowly but steadily again. Sadly, her father and the Hyūga elders–the oldest vampires in the clan–had dismissed this change of character as a phase, and had judged her improvements too slow to acknowledge. This had hampered her motivation, but nonetheless, she had kept training harder during the years that came.

None of her family had ever found out what had sparked this new determination in her, but it had paid off. When she had reached the age of eighty - or sixteen -, she had surpassed her sister in hand-to-hand combat, and could hold her own against high-class supernaturals. Her personality had also changed: while she had retained her gentleness and compassion, she had grown out of her overbearing shyness, and could now speak her mind with more ease. Hinata's father had recognized her progress, and had even considered reestablishing her as clan heiress. She had joined the seekers, a special unit serving directly under the leaders of the Vampire Council, and up to this day was still trying to prove her worth to her father and her clan.

Although as of right now, if she arrived late to school on the day she had two exams scheduled, her reputation of seriousness and dedication as a student, held for over fifty years in the educational system - luckily, she hadn't had to repeat the same grade five times over -, would take a blow. Which was why she was currently hurrying to get there in time, in a manner some would judge quite unfitting of a vampire princess.

Oh well. Better run to catch the train than to walk calmly and miss it like an idiot.

She had learned that lesson yesterday night, when her seeker team had received the task of capturing a traitor to the vampire species who had obtained sensitive information about the Hyūga's White Eye. They had been catching up with him easily, and had decided to be careful and double-check his trail. As a result, a hunter-demon had snatched him before they could, and the famed Soul Stalkers had received a harsh reprimand from the Council and Hinata's father.

She glanced around as she sprinted down Butsuma Senju Street. The buildings had broken windows, decaying facades and makeshift shacks along their walls. She spotted at least three tramps, one of them sleeping under a cardboard. The other people wandering in the streets generally looked as scruffy as the two thugs who had attacked her earlier. A foul smell emerged from the sewers, amplified by the vehicles' gas.

Hinata's gaze saddened. She remembered a time during her early childhood when the Senju District had been one of the richest and most popular areas of Leaftown. Magnificent public gardens had spread their emerald lawns and foliages over hundreds of square meters, colorful and life-filled festivals with fireworks blasting into the sky... But about thirty-five years ago, for reasons she had never really found out, it had suffered a sequence of financial crises that had ruined many important businesses. As a result, the local economy had collapsed, prompting many residents to leave the area. The once prestigious neighborhood had become plagued by extreme poverty, homelessness, and inevitably, crime, such as drugs or weapons traffic. Hinata didn't like passing through here; it only made her nostalgic, and there was a far greater chance that some ill-intended people would approach you. Of course, in her case, it just annoyed her. However, it was still the shortest route to the school, and she couldn't afford to take the longer way right now.

The former Hyūga heiress turned her attention back to her progress and noticed she had arrived. The engraved metal gates of Senju High loomed before her, an opening in the large, imposing stone wall surrounding the campus. After passing through them, she ran across the school grounds, still brown with naked trees and gray with the concrete slabs. Above the entrance to the main building, a wooden board bore the inscription "Hashirama Senju Upper Secondary School", the institution's obsolete name, in white writing characters.

It had been founded almost four hundred years ago, during the time Leaftown had evolved from a minor provincial town to an important and expanding city. As a result, its architecture gave off an old-fashioned impression, but it did have a certain charm to it. Hinata in particular felt drawn to the old building, the history its crack-riddled walls held, and the possible mysteries it hid under its conical wooden roofs. In that way, it was just like her.

Dashing through corridors and practically running up the stairs, the girl finally reached her classroom and opened the door just as the bell rang. That caused every student in the class to direct their eyes in her direction, some in desperate need of a distraction from the upcoming torture. Silently cursing her luck, the target the attention gulped as the teacher turned her intimidating red gaze on her. Kurenai Yūhi's glare was that much more intimidating when solely focused on you.

The woman's long black untamed hair reached her upper back, and her make-up (red lipstick and purple eye shadow) added to her natural beauty - Hinata knew more than a few boys that had had a crush on her. Her outfit consisted of a red blouse with the right sleeve reaching to her wrist while the left one stopped at her shoulder, and a white linen dress with a black pattern that resembled thorny vines.

As a fellow vampire and somewhat of a mentor figure, the girl knew her personally, unbeknown to the non-supernatural students. She had supported and helped Hinata in her training, and the latter felt like she owed her integration to the seekers. Although right now, she hoped Kurenai wouldn't ask her to repay that debt with detention for almost being late.

"Hinata," she began in a no-nonsense tone. "I know you're punctual, but you should get here before class starts."

As much as the young seeker admired and respected her, she had to admit that even though she was only twenty-nine in human years (one hundred and forty-five) she could act like a fifty-year-old elementary teacher. Which meant approximately as flexible as a stainless steel beam.

"Sorry, Mrs. Yūhi, but…" Hinata started.

"Well, since you actually didn't get here late," the teacher cut her off, "just sit down and take your stuff out. I'm feeling generous today."

The half-vampiress nodded gratefully and headed to her table, relieved to get off so easily. As she passed the tables where Sasuke and Sai sat, neither of them even glanced at her. Unsurprised, she kept walking. She knew they had to keep their cover while at school and not act like they really knew each other. No strong bond existed between them anyway. Outside of their missions, she only saw Neji on a regular basis, and that was because they were cousins and he helped her train. Besides their assignments, nothing else held their team together.

She sat down in her ususal spot, between her two best friends. Kiba, a brown-haired boy with red fang-shaped facial paint on each of his cheeks, slitted eyes and pointed teeth, wore his usual black form-fitting leather jacket. Shino had dark goggles on, and the hood of his long dark green coat was down during classtime, for once not concealing his bushy brown hair; as usual, the high collar was masking the bottom half of his face.

While Kiba sometimes acted a little too cocky and Shino didn't really talk much, they had been the first people in this school to accept her as her friend while knowing almost everything about her, despite them coming from different supernatural species, and for that, they would forever remain in her heart.

Kiba was a werewolf from the famed Inuzuka Clan, and Shino was a Beelzebub (a species that could control insects at will) from the equally famous Aburame Clan. Like she had been, Shino was the heir to his family, and Kiba the second son of the clan head, so they understood some of what she had gone through, although the Inuzuka and the Aburame didn't hold expectations as high as the Hyūga for their progeny. When Hinata had arrived at Senju High, she never would have imagined that the people who would become her closest friends and almost siblings would belong to other species and that both would be of the opposite sex. But it had happened, and she was happy about it.

"Good morning, Kiba, Shino," she greeted them quietly while taking her stuff out.

Shino just nodded without a word, as usual, while Kiba answered "Hey, Hinata," with his usual toothy grin. The young vampiress smiled back, and turned her attention back to the board, ready to begin the day by paying attention to her classes. She wasn't exactly a "nerd", as humans said, but good grades were also a requirement in the ever-elitist Hyūga Clan.

If only this had been the sole requirement.

* * *

Supernatural beings had lived among mere humans for ages, all the way back to the mythical God of the Six Paths, the supposed founder of the magical world. Nobody knew exactly where he had originated from. Apparently, he possessed godlike powers, capable of creating entire worlds. Yet he had chosen to walk alongside men and women, rich and poor, fortunate and unfortunate alike, as a simple hermit. Fables and poems told the tale of how he, along with his brother, who had held similar might, had slain an evil entity that threatened to destroy the world. He possessed peculiar eyes that granted him six specific god-like abilities; that had been the first of what had become known as Visual Prowesses, and this particular one had gained the name of "Eye of the Six Paths" because of its capabilities.

According to legend, seeing the primitive and war-torn state of the world, this mysterious being had granted powers to people he deemed worthy. That mythical act had caused the gifted ones to worship him as the God of the Six Paths, and had marked the beginning of supernatural species. Clans like the Hyūga had formed and begun to grow.

However, as centuries passed, those who had received this blessing had waged war on each other to gain control over their world. Even clans from the same species had fought. Fatally, collateral damage had happened in human populations: villages and cities had become ravaged, lands had burned, and innocents had been slaughtered by crazed monsters.

As a result, mankind had grown to fear the power these creatures possessed, and had sought to exterminate them all. While the supernatural held otherworldly abilities, humans had numbers on their side. Too caught up in their conflicts, the former hadn't united in time, and had suffered persecution for centuries: hunts, burning stakes, and imprisonment had been among their most common fates. Eventually, all of them had gone into hiding, leading their tormentors to progressively believe they had all been exterminated, or simply belonged to folklore. But, even then, supernaturals had continued to fight in the shadows, and the cycle of war and hatred had endured.

Fortunately, approximately four centuries ago, the first inter-supernatural community had been founded in Leaftown by the heads of the two major families of this time: Madara of the Uchiha and Hashirama of the Senju.

The Senju were an eminent werewolf clan, who held an age-old enmity with the Uchiha, and had clashed with them on numerous occasions along the ages. However, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha had established a bond of friendship and had decided to sign a truce between the feuding factions. They had settled into the large village Leaftown had been back then, and other important families from various species, such as the Hyūga or the Aburame, had joined them over time. For the first time, different clans from different races cohabited in relative peace. It hadn't been long before other supernaturals had started to follow their lead and to create similar communities everywhere else.

In order to protect themselves and hide, important supernatural clans had accumulated much wealth and influence over the centuries. Therefore, the gathering of so many powerful families in a single settlement had helped said agglomerations expand and develop into powerful centers, and they had all eventually become either capitals or metropoles of their home countries. Currently, the five greatest metropoles in the world were Leaftown, capital of Fireland, Sandton, in Windany, Cloud City, capital of Lightningia, Stonesburg, capital of Earthic, and Mistville in Waterdom. And of course, these housed the most powerful supernatural communities.

Unfortunately, the formation of those centers hadn't stopped the cycle of conflict among these exceptional creatures, but actually made it even more devastating. Now, instead of short fighting between clans, it had escalated into international wars that lasted years and caused thousands of deaths. The supernaturals had also infiltrated the governments of their respective countries, and manipulating the latter to do their bidding had proven quite easy. In fact, the last three world wars had been sparked by them. Of course, the humans also started their own conflicts, but the bloodiest, most devastating ones were the work of the communities.

For now, however, the peace seemed stable. World War III, or the Third Great Supernatural War, as the perpetrators called it, had happened more than a hundred years ago, and the five great cities had agreed to an armistice. But all of them wondered when the next conflict would inevitably arise.

* * *

 **Well, there you have it. The second chapter of The Secrets of the Night. Please review to tell me if you liked it or not, and why. As always, constructive criticism if you don't, please.**

 **ThePunner**


	3. Chapter 3: Enter the new guy

Enter the new guy

 **A response to Royce S: this isn't a Twilight story. I don't particularly like Twilight, don't hate it either, and I'm not going to reproduce it in this fic. If there is any resemblance, that's a coincidence.**

 **Enjoy the reading.**

 **Disclaimer:** _ **Naruto**_ **, as a work, belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, not me. I do not earn any profits, financial or otherwise, from the creation and diffusion of this story, nor do I seek to obtain any.**

* * *

"Attention, students," Kurenai called. "I'm going to take attendance. Shino?"

The quiet boy raised his hand.

"Chōji?"

A husky teen with a long mane of spiky light brown hair and swirly drawings on his cheeks, as well as earrings, answered "Present" while eating from his bag of chips. Kurenai frowned a little, but said nothing. She had learned a long time ago that there was no stopping Chōji from bringing food in the room.

Just like Kiba, he was the heir of an important werewolf family of Leaftown, the Akimichi Clan. These lycanthropes were known for eating a lot and being overweight, but a reason existed for their particular condition: when they shifted into their animal forms, they used that extra fat to transform into more imposing shapes than the average wereanimal, and the biggest ones could reach the size of a truck. Therefore eating constantly acted as a way to keep their fat reserves in order to be prepared for an unexpected fight, and Kurenai could not really blame Chōji for following his clan's customs.

The teacher simply moved on to the next name. When she started nearing the end of the list, just after calling Sasuke, she knitted her brows, as if confused. She raised her head and declared:

"Apparently, we have a new student. His name is Naruto Uzumaki. Has anyone seen or heard of him?"

The teens shook their heads or answered negatively. Something started in Hinata's memory.

 _Uzumaki… Where have I heard that name before?_

Before she could muse on it any longer, the door suddenly flew open. A boy looking around their age stood in the entryway. She heard a few girls start whispering, and she herself started blushing a little, since, as a half-vampire, blood did run through her veins, though not as much as with a human, which accounted for her fair skin.

She had to admit, the guy was good-looking, though not in the same way as Sai or Sasuke. He looked more rugged than dark or cool, with his spiky blond hair, bright blue eyes, and these weird triple whisker marks on each of his cheeks, along with his bright grin. He also appeared quite fit, with muscular arms and a slim body, from what she could see under his orange and black V-neck shirt. His jacket was tied to his waist, and he had a bandanna with a kitsune sewed on it tied on his forehead. Confirming his status as a student, he wore a backpack colored to match his shirt.

But something about him felt strange to Hinata. He seemed to give off some weird aura; not exactly a bad vibe, just an off feeling she couldn't quite place, a sensation she had never encountered before. Her radar was activated: even without her White Eye, she could still feel when something supernatural happened. It classified as a form of instinct, a kind of sixth sense unique to non-human species. Which probably meant that this boy belonged to the latter.

Said newcomer seemed to get the same feeling as he paused after pulling the door. He turned his head around almost imperceptibly, his gaze wandering around the classroom in apparent curiosity, but Hinata recognized it: he was assessing and analyzing the other people in the room, just like a seeker.

Seemingly satisfied, the blond turned his eyes back to Kurenai and put his hand behind his head sheepishly. As he did, the strange presence vanished to Hinata's senses.

"Uh, hi there. Sorry if I'm late, but I got a little lost finding the room," he apologized. "This building's kinda big, so…"

"Are you the new student?" Kurenai questioned from her desk.

"Uh, yes ma'am. I just got here today."

"Well, find a desk, then you can introduce yourself. Do you have paper and writing material?" she went on.

"Sure," the boy answered. He then looked around, probably clueless as to where he would sit.

"Why don't you sit in front of Kiba over there," the teacher recommended, clearly sensing his dilemma.

He nodded and headed over to his assigned spot. As soon as he had settled, Kurenai told him to start.

"Okay. Hello, everyone. My name's Naruto, and as you can see, I'm new here. I've just transferred from Leaf Academy, and I've moved here with my godfather. I plan to stay in this school for a while. Uhhh… happy to be here?" he finished uncertainly, looking at the woman.

"It's fine, Naruto," she reassured him. "For starters, I wish you a warm welcome at Senju High. I'm sure you'll fit right in, since I've heard you've been working to catch up on where we are now. You had an assignment to hand in. Do you have it?"

Hinata could've sworn she heard Naruto gulp.

"Uh, yeah. About that…" he chuckled nervously.

"Yes?" the vampiress asked in a far less gentle tone, eyes suspicious.

Before Naruto could elaborate, a loud and shrill ringing suddenly blared. Hinata, as well as Kiba, Shino, Chōji, Sasuke and Sai, winced and covered her ears to stop the sound from damaging their sensitive ears, along with Kurenai.

Hinata noticed something else after she opened her eyes again, though. Naruto was laid down on his table, hands on either side of his head, groaning. It seemed he had taken the noise from the fire alarm even worse than the young half-vampiress and her friends.

 _Looks like my guess was right, seeing his reaction. He_ is _a supernatural,_ the girl thought. _But for him to be affected this badly… either he's been made recently, or his sensory powers are much more important than ours._

"Of course," the teacher sighed. "We just _had_ to have a fire drill on a Monday. Come on, class, you know how it goes," she instructed, turning to the youngsters. "Naruto, just follow their lead, we're going in the courtyard."

Suddenly, an automated voice rang over the speakers.

 _"Attention, students,"_ it droned. _"This is not an exercise. Please proceed calmly to the nearest exit."_

The class started to get scared, Hinata could practically smell it. A talent vampires shared with werewolves–though the latter's skill exceeded her species'–, they possessed a keen sense of smell, which also allowed them to detect emotions by noticing sweat or chemical signals. And of course, because of her fine hearing, she could catch the heartbeats accelerating. She herself wasn't frightened, of course, but she still wondered how much the fire had progressed.

The class formed a line in front of the door. Somehow, the former Hyūga heiress found herself near Naruto. She fought to keep her blush down, and her usually faint heartbeat (much slower and weaker than normal humans because of the smaller amount of blood) suddenly went faster.

 _Come on, Hinata,_ she scolded herself. _Sure the guy's hot, but you don't know anything about him. He could be a rogue supernatural for all you know. Now's not the time to get a crush, especially with Father and the council breathing down your neck because of the last busted mission!_

Determined to not act all flustered around her new classmate, she took a deep breath. Half-vampires needed to breathe, but they could go without it for a long time. However, it was always a relaxing exercise to inhale and exhale deeply.

Unfortunately for her, the small sound caught the boy's attention, and he turned towards her. She immediately started blushing again.

 _Damn it! Why does he have to be so good-looking?_

"Um, hi," she started timidly. "I'm… Hinata Hyūga. Nice to meet you. And, uh… welcome to Senju High."

Inside her mind, however, she yelled at herself:

 _Stop hesitating! You're an 80-years old vampire, not a little human teenager with a crush! And don't throw in that pitiful excuse for a greeting!_

"Oh, hi there," Naruto answered with a smile, apparently not put off by her pathetic approach. "Thanks for the welcome. Nice to meet you to, Hinata. You have a pretty name," he added, making her swoon.

The former Hyūga heiress shook herself and tried to refocus on the task at hand: gathering information on him.

"Thanks," she replied, still a little bashful. "So, you… you said you came from Leaf Academy. How was it there?"

"Honestly? Kind of boring. I mean, there was a really cool teacher who helped me a lot, but all of the others acted like assholes with the bad students. Plus the classes bored me. The lectures we had in History, ugh…" he groaned, not even finishing his sentence.

"Well, I hope you like it here," responded Hinata nervously. "The teachers generally help out students, and, uh, I find the classes interesting," she finished, hoping to have presented a good picture of the school.

"Sounds cool, I'll have to check it out myself if the building doesn't burn up," concluded the blond with a wink. Just like Hinata and the supernaturals, he didn't appear scared at all of the potential fire.

At this moment, Kurenai placed herself at the top of the line and opened the door. The students all headed out, not as loudly as usual, with the incendiary threat still in the air.

 _If I make him feel comfortable, he'll open up even more,_ the young vampiress thought. _But why am I so nervous?_

When she thought about the possibility that he might not like this school, the Hyūga felt like a hole had been dug in her chest. She then imagined him leaving Senju High, and she started to get really upset. Like, borderline _mad_ upset.

 _Whoa there. Get a grip, girl. You just met this guy, you can't fall in love with him just because he's good-looking. That's superficial and shallow, the two qualities you hate the most. You are going to get to know him personality-wise, and then you'll see if he's worth fawning over_ , the girl decided.

As they started to descend the stairs, a group of students cut them off, practically jumping down the steps, yelling. One of them screamed:

"The chemistry room's on fire!"

Immediately, people started to panic, and Hinata's class tried to rush down the stairs. Said girl caught a whiff of smoke coming from the floor above, where the chemistry lab was. One of the experiments had probably gone wrong.

She really didn't get the point of training young humans in science. It all evolved so fast, they would be already out of the loop by the time they chose to work in this field. Then again, _everything_ went quickly for a vampire. Because of their long lifespans, they possessed a slower perception of time than humans. Decades to a member of said species would only feel like a couple of years to a blood drinker. They would go crazy over the centuries otherwise. Though some of them sure looked like they had left their sanity a few hundred years back.

Suddenly, an explosion shook the floor above them, and a wall of flames appeared in the stairway, raging down towards the students much too quickly for the last of the line to escape without damage. As everyone started screaming, Hinata sprung into action.

This patience of the vampires, however, did not apply to shorter periods of time. Actually, it was quite the contrary: because of their amazing speed and physical capacities, during fights, time slowed down for them, and a mere second allowed them to accomplish feats a human needed half a minute for.

Seeing her classmates in danger, Hinata's vampire senses kicked in. Everything appeared to be moving in slow motion, the fire burning its way toward the last teenagers sluggishly.

Not losing any of this preciously slow time, the girl jumped over the terrified group until she was above the blaze and close to the upper stairs. Her legs shot up, and, using that monstrous strength vampires were blessed with, she kicked the stone above her so hard the structure cracked and collapsed. The stone debris fell on the flames below, smothering them.

The young vampiress used the impact with the stairs to backflip, and she landed in a crouch on the level below. Not even slightly winded, she rose as her senses returned to human level and the world stopped moving in slow motion.

She saw the students stop yelling and agitating themselves once the dust dissipated and they saw the blocks preventing the fire from advancing; it crackled and roared, like an angry beast seeking to devour its prey. The humans were obviously confused and still terrified, and a cacophony started to rise among them again. To put the finishing touch to the chaos, the sprinklers activated, and water poured down, effectively dousing the fire, but also soaking the teenagers.

Meanwhile, every supernatural with extra sensory perception was glaring at her. All of a sudden, the full brunt of what she had done hit Hinata like a wrecking ball.

She had just used her powers in front of humans. That was strictly forbidden, in order to keep their world a secret. Of course, the students couldn't have glimpsed more than a blur, but then they would start asking questions, spreading rumors, and there was a risk of the truth being found out.

Then, another horrible realization dawned on her.

 _What if there are still people up there? I just destroyed the stairs! How are they going to come down?!_

She prepared to jump up the hole she had created, but the exact same thoughts had apparently crossed Kurenai's mind, because she grabbed Hinata and told her in a low voice:

"They can take the stairway on the other side of the school. We have to go _now_!"

She then turned to the class and shouted:

"Come on, let's go! The building could still be unstable!"

The teens snapped out of their confusion and followed the older vampire's lead, seeking to escape the pouring water. The teacher sent Hinata a look that clearly meant: _We'll talk about this later_ , before passing her. The younger one gulped. She knew she was in big trouble.

However, when Naruto went by her, he didn't appear confused, scared or angry. He just looked at her with–was she seeing this right?–respect, almost admiration, even. He grinned at her and mouthed "Awesome". She blushed furiously, and prayed the God of the Six Paths she didn't faint. Adding that to the incident that had just occurred would surely kill her out of shame and embarrassment.

But that grin did make her feel a little better, and she didn't hang her head quite so low anymore.

Still, when Naruto looked at her and she stared right back into his eyes for one moment, the blue-haired girl glimpsed something unexpected.

The blond boy's beautiful sky-blue irides suddenly turned blood-red, with slit, vertical pupils. The uneasy feeling she had gotten during his entrance came back, but much stronger.

He suddenly turned his head away, and this strange aura was gone as quickly as it had appeared. He vanished into the mass of kids before Hinata could call out to him-not that she'd have had the courage to do so. Said girl shook her head and started moving along with the other teenagers.

After they exited the building and arrived in the courtyard (dripping all over the concrete in the process), the class erupted in questions and discussions again. A lot of stares were directed at the half-vampiress, particularly among her fellow supernaturals. Well, some boys were also gazing at her because her soaked clothes hung to her curvy form even more than usual. Luckily she wasn't wearing a white T-shirt today, otherwise the watchers would have had a full view of her bra. However, her mind was on something else.

The former Hyūga heiress trembled internally, not in fear of her punishment, but for the young humans. What would happen to them? Would they be killed in order to erase all witnesses? By trying to save their lives, had she condemned them all?

Then, with the ever-present scowl on his face, Sasuke made a "Hn" sound and started walking. He looked even grumpier than usual-probably because he was all wet now. When he passed her, he just dropped in a low voice:

"I'm going to clean the mess you made, but don't think of this as a friendly or common gesture. You _will_ owe me for this."

The dark, spiky-haired vampire placed himself in front of the assembled students. He called:

"Hey everyone! Can I please have your attention?"

As the humans turned to face him-his soaked black polo shirt caught the attention of the girls-, his irides suddenly turned red, and three black comma-shaped marks in a circle appeared in them. Said marks started spinning as he looked at each teenager in the eye. As he did, the assembly gradually stopped moving, and the noise quieted down to an eerie silence. Sasuke's scarlet gaze seemed to put the students in a trancelike state.

Hinata wanted to smack her wet forehead for forgetting about his power.

This boy also originated from a prestigious vampire clan. The Uchiha, a family with lineage as ancient as the Hyūga's, possessed fame equal, if not superior, to the latter's. Just like them, their eyes held special powers: they could also distinguish energy flows (although not to the same extent), as well as read the movements of others, copy them almost perfectly, and hypnotize those who crossed their gaze. Because the marks in the irides sometimes spun when it was activated, this power became known as the Spinning Eye.

Right now, Sasuke was probably using the hypnotic capacity of his eyes to make his victims forget the event involving Hinata. At one moment however, he arched one brow, as if something had surprised him, the great Uchiha, a notable occurrence.

He was the same age as the former Hyūga heiress, but the similarities stopped here. Sasuke had everything most guys of his age dreamed: handsomeness, a great physique, intelligence, and skills in almost every subject, especially PE. As a result, girls considered him the school heartthrob, and he had three official fan-clubs as of now. The downside of this popularity? He acted like an asshole: either ignoring people trying to talk to him or replying to them in his condescending tone.

Hinata actively despised this guy as a person, but she had to admit he really was a prodigy. He had made seeker at 70 (14) and was by far one of the most promising members of the corps. Their superiors predicted that he would lead a team of his own in no time. Of course he had received a great deal of natural talent from his lineage, but he had also trained just as hard, and maybe more, than Hinata. So she admitted his potential and the advantages of him being on their team.

The Uchiha vampires had held their ancient enmity with the Senju werewolves until the settlement in Leaftown, and even in modern times, tension remained between these two clans. In fact, many of today's series depicting supernatural elements had been inspired by the conflicts between them. Humanity may not have known about the other side of their world, but they had certainly gotten influenced by it over the millennia. However, reality was far from the romantic, polished image given by the media. Just like this city, actually.

When Sasuke finished, his irides returned to their original onyx color, and he headed back to his original place in the mass. As the humans started shaking out of the trance, he gave the vampiress one last look, reminding her he had something to hold over her head. She shivered, and it wasn't from the cold (she was immune to it anyway). If her father learned about this, especially after last night's fiasco, she was done for.

Then, she caught the raven-haired vampire's gaze directed at something other than the general crowd, and she noticed something unexpected. All of the students were snapping out of their daze slowly, one by one, save for for the supernaturals, of course, who had turned their eyes away in time and were thus unaffected… along with Naruto, who watched his phone without a care in the world. Now she understood why Sasuke had seemed puzzled for a second during the hypnosis.

 _I wonder which species he belongs to,_ wondered Hinata as she watched him. _My guess would be a werewolf. He's got the same energy as Kiba, and he does also look a little wild. Hmm, that makes him even more attractive,_ she mused, before snapping out of it.

 _He must know about the Spinning Eye and how to counter its effect,_ she deduced. _Meaning he also knows that Sasuke is an Uchiha._ _If he's so well informed, he either comes from an important clan or he has another very reliable source. Plus, there's that weird aura I felt from him earlier and his eyes… In all cases, I have to keep an eye on him. Who knows what else he could know about our powers, or how strong he is?_

 _Well, maybe you could also "keep an eye" on certain parts of him,_ suggested a sly voice in the back of her mind. _He does look like he's packing something interesting in those clothes of his…_

 _Shut up, inner pervert!_ retorted the half-vampiress, forcing her blush down. _This is unfitting of a Hyūga!_

 _Riiight, because with those eyes of ours, none of them have ever used it for that,_ the voice mocked. _Come on, let's be honest, they're probably all peeptoms! Just like you, Mrs. Snow-White! Don't you remember the "accidental" glances at the boys' locker room after gym? The muscles some of them have, I tell you… And that new kid looks like he's ripped too._

Experiencing real trouble not getting a rare nosebleed from the mental images her perverted side had conjured, the girl pulled on her hair to get the water out, and focused on the matter at hand again, hoping to drown the nagging in reflexions. She really didn't know she had a part of her so lewd and outspoken, but she wished its confidence–and _only_ that quality–would manifest itself more often during interactions.

The young Hyūga looked in the blond student's direction again, but she felt surprised when she saw him gazing right back at her. She quickly turned her eyes away, but risked a quick glance at him shortly after, and watched him smile.

Kurenai suddenly called for the students to form a line, startling the two out of their little game. Hinata turned her attention back toward the teacher, albeit reluctantly, and obeyed the command.

This time, the young vampiress was placed next to Shikamaru, a friend of Chōji's, whom she only knew as an acquaintance.

He had his black hair attached in a catogan shaped like pineapple leaves (as straight as ever despite its wetness), small, narrow eyes, and a lean, mink-like face. As usual, a bored and almost sleepy expression adorned the latter. Though he also looked a little disgruntled to be so wet.

"Um, hi, Shikamaru," she tried politely.

She often saw him sleep during class, or recess, or any period of the day, actually. He just seemed like a regular guy to her, if extraordinarily lazy, but she had once heard Chōji say that he had never met somebody as smart as Shikamaru. Apparently, if pushed, he could resolve problems, enigma or paradoxes that would stump world-known mathematicians in less than ten minutes. Hinata held some doubt about that last part, but she hadn't dismissed it like others. After being looked down on by her clan all these years, she knew better than to underestimate anyone. If that boy was as much of a genius as Chōji pretended, then he deserved even more respect for acting like a nobody so well.

He was the heir to the Nara Clan, a prestigious wizard family known for their skills in shadow-manipulating spells, sharp intellect, and exceptional… laziness. So maybe she shouldn't condemn him so quickly, since it apparently ran in the family.

The guy in question yawned and drowled (in a very low voice, of course):

"Ugh, you girls are just too troublesome… I can tell we're going to be hearing about this for weeks. Plus I'm all wet. This is such a drag."

Then again, maybe he _was_ just a lazy macho.

She sighed quietly, not offended by his attitude–he had a right to be irritated, after all–and lowered her head.

"I'm really sorry about the situation I caused, but…" she stopped, before continuing: "I just couldn't let them get caught by the fire. I'm still worried about the others," she went on. "I hope nobody's hurt."

"That's quite noble of you," Shikamaru replied curtly, still whispering, "but you can't risk exposing our secret just to save a couple of kids. Trust me; there'll be more situations like this one in the future, and you won't be able to protect everyone each time."

 _I know that, okay? I've been a seeker for a year now! Well, I suppose he's another one of these racists that don't care about humans at all._

"I know what you're thinking," the black-haired boy spoke up, interrupting her thoughts. "I've got nothing against protecting humans, I'll let you know," he went on, startling her. "I think they have as much of a right to live as us. But I'm being practical here: if you have to choose between your mission and saving others, take the first option. This is the rule in our world: our safety is more important," he finished before turning his attention back to the general direction of the front.

 _He's making valid points, but…_ Hinata sighed, mentally this time. _I can't resolve myself to abandon people in need of help. Guess I'm still too soft._ _But seriously, I can't even check on the others with my White Eye because of the humans around!_ she mentally groaned.

Glancing back at Shikamaru, she reflected:

 _He certainly is smart. Maybe Chōji_ is _telling the truth about him._

She kept quiet after that, and they just watched the other classes get in the courtyard, all soaked up–and complaining quite loudly about it too.

 _Don't they know the building would have burned without the sprinklers?_ she wondered.

Sometimes, she really didn't get human teenagers. At least one always complained about a "tragic" event in his or her life. If a seeker adopted this attitude, his or her career would be over.

Hinata shook herself. No reason to take out her anxiety on them; they hadn't done anything to her. But still, she really hoped the Vampire Council or her father didn't hear of this. Especially the latter.

However, the girl felt relief to see the students from the chemistry class exit the building relatively unharmed, save for a few with burns; nothing life-threatening, though. The teacher had taken the worst of it, but she still seemed as fit as ever, her serious side in charge as she oversaw the evacuation.

Anko Mitarashi, another vampire, and a friend of Kurenai's. She was said to belong to a special unit rumored to be comprised of supernaturals from all races; she worked in a torture and interrogation corps, and did her job splendidly, if Hinata believed her mentor. All of the times the half-vampiress had seen her, she had seemed happy in a borderline psychotic way, but right now, she was all business: checking if all of her students had gotten out, evaluating the injuries, calming people down… The girl guessed this was how she handled missions.

Judging by her completely burnt jacket and her other singed clothes (which revealed her busty physique), she had probably jumped in front of the explosion to save her students. Good thing she had supernatural healing.

Anko glanced toward Kurenai's class. When she saw the teacher looking back, she mouthed "All safe". Her red-eyed friend sighed in relief and turned back to her own class. Hinata's fears quieted down with this information, but she still held some preoccupation over the consequences of this event.

She just hoped the rest of the day would go better than its beginning.

* * *

The classes had been confined to the courtyard all morning. When the firefighters had arrived a few minutes after this whole ordeal, they had asked about the source of the explosion first. Anko had told them on of her students had left the gas faucet open by accident, which had allowed a cloud of flammable substance to spread in the area. Said student had then tried to discreetly light a cigarette, and the flame from the lighter had set off a combustive reaction.

After that, the crew had examined the building for over two hours, checking for damage or other sources of explosions. The situation could have turned really bad when they asked about the destroyed stairs. According to them, the blast shouldn't have been strong enough to make it collapse. Luckily, there were some supernaturals among them, who pretended the structure was already unstable, and that the shockwave had probably sufficed to unbalance it. Kurenai's skills in hypnosis had helped. She may not have possessed the Spinning Eye, but she remained an expert in this field, and convincing a few humans that some stairs had suffered water damage over the years really wasn't a challenge for her.

The classes watched for a bit, but rapidly grew bored of this, so they dispersed to find their friends and started chatting among themselves. In the blink of an eye, Kiba and Shino were at Hinata's side.

"Hinata, what on earth were you thinking?" questioned Kiba, preoccupied. "That stunt you pulled could have exposed us! You know you're gonna get in trouble after that. Mrs. Yūhi isn't going to let this slide, and I'm not even mentioning your dad!"

"I'm really sorry for all the trouble I caused, Kiba," apologized the half-vampiress, lowering her head, "but… I had to. These guys were about to get swallowed by the fire, and… they weren't moving fast enough to escape, so I thought the stone from the stairs could smother the flames. And… well, you know what happened next."

 _Why am I being so shy again?_ she asked herself. _Because I know I messed up one more time_ , she answered herself almost immediately. _Maybe the elders are right, I'm still this weak girl that always makes mistakes. What if Father decides I'm really worthless this time?_ she started to panic. _What if he pulls me out of the seekers?_

Before any member of the trio had time to say something else, a new voice cut in:

"Hello there."

They turned to see the new kid, Naruto Uzumaki, walking up to them. He stopped a meter or two from them, and went on:

"Uh, I just wanted to talk to you, Hinata."

 _He wants to talk to me?_ the girl repeated to herself, desperately willing her face to remain pale.

She thought she caught Shino glancing at her. He had noticed her embarrassment, she knew it. Why did he have to be so observant?

"What do you want, newbie?" asked Kiba rather abruptly. "Anything you have to say to Hinata, you can say in front of us."

"Whoa, calm down here, dog-boy," the blond retorted, glaring at him. "I'm not trying to pick a bone with you, but you wolves need to learn to be less possessive."

This guy had surprised Hinata yet again with his knowledge. Of course, if he knew about Sasuke, he probably had info on every person in this class or even the entire school, including her. Still, it came as a bit of a shock to have him say such things out in the open. However, her surprise paled in comparison to her friends'.

Kiba stood dumbstruck, staring at the newcomer with wide eyes. He had apparently not noticed Naruto's belonging to the supernatural, despite his powerful sense of smell. Shino did not offer a reaction as visible as his two friends, but he straightened up and seemed to be looking at the blond with more interest than before–although his dark glasses made it hard to tell. Despite the fact that, as a Beelzebub, the bugs living inside his body could sense people's energies and thus give him an idea of their abilities, he hadn't picked up on the spiky-haired boy's nature either.

The fact that neither Kiba nor Shino, with their expert sensory skills, had remarked him signified that the whisker-faced boy could suppress his supernatural energy, and had probably spotted all the "special" students in the class. The Hyūga silently upped his skill level. To camouflage his signature from high-class trackers like that…

 _But why could_ I _sense him, if he's so good?_ wondered Hinata. _Have I really gotten good enough for my perception to become stronger than Kiba's or Shino's?_

Somehow, she doubted that was the case.

"You… you… but… how…?" Kiba stammered, before recovering and asking: "You're one of… us?"

"Well, duh," Naruto replied sarcastically. "And I thought the Inuzuka were some of the best trackers around."

So he knew which clans they belonged to as well as their species. Meaning he should have known Inuzuka's tended to be rather… confident. Proud, even.

"Watch it, punk," growled Kiba, showing his sharp canines. "Insulting my pack might be the last thing you ever do. I don't know _what_ you are, and I don't care. I won't allow some kid to put my family down."

"Kiba, calm down," Hinata pleaded. "Don't start a fight here."

"But Hinata," protested Kiba, "he's asking for it. Plus, there's something fishy about him. Can't you feel it?"

"Well, yeah, but…" she began.

"What do you mean, something's fishy about me?" Naruto intervened.

Kiba and Hinata turned their attention back on him. He face showed confusion, but the young vampiress could detect a faint trace of something else in his eyes: fear.

She looked more closely and changed her mind. It was less intense–worry, maybe?

Before she could ponder on it, Shino replied in their place, surprising them, since he never spoke much:

"What they mean is that we have all felt something off when you entered the classroom. Something we have never felt in any supernatural. However, we could not identify it. The reason for that is because it disappeared before we could investigate it."

Apparently, the quiet Beelzebub had also noticed Naruto's strange aura, though he had failed to track down its source.

The mystery boy in question suddenly chuckled, putting his hand behind his head. Despite his sudden good mood, however, Hinata caught his eyes widening slightly for a second before he spoke:

"Oh, so that's what you were talking about. Yeah, I can explain that. You see, I'm kind of a mix. My pops is a wizard and my mom's a werewolf. I've been told my energy's got a 'messed up' vibe before. I've also been trained to hide it."

It made sense when Hinata thought about it. Combining the signature auras of two different species in one individual could create a new, unknown signature. Furthermore, his parentage accounted for his "wild" presence, and she thought she had felt a magic influence in his energy.

"So you're a half-blood, huh?" asked Kiba agressively.

Naruto immediately stopped grinning, lowered his arm, and glared daggers at the werewolf.

"I'm sorry, what did you just call me, you filthy mutt?" he snarled.

"What'd you say, crossbreed?" roared Kiba.

Both supernaturals started showing elongated teeth and nails, and Naruto even got those scarlet and slitted eyes again, along with his whisker marks becoming darker and more visible. Animalistic growls started ringing through the air.

Hinata suddenly appeared between the pair, pushing them back with a single shove. They both stumbled back, the wind knocked out of them. She had hit them in an energy point on the chest with increased strength, though she had made sure not to touch any vital spots.

"Stop it, you two! Please!" the dark-haired girl demanded, distraught. "Kiba, if what you said is true, then what makes me any different? I'm half-human, so I'm as much of a half-blood as he is!"

The boys stopped their glaring contest and looked at her instead. The Inuzuka werewolf lowered his head in shame, while Naruto just stood there. They both quieted and returned to their human form.

"Sorry, Hinata," dejectedly dropped Kiba. "Sorry, man. That was uncalled for."

"Don't worry about it, it's fine," answered the blond, lowering his gaze. "I kind of overreacted here. But Hinata," he picked up, turning to the half-vampiress, "you're half-human?"

The former Hyūga heiress nodded.

"Yeah. So I know what it's like to feel like you don't really belong anywhere. I'm sure you do too," she continued softly, remembering her early life.

He sighed.

"Yeah, I know. You get shunned by both species. On the outside, they tell you you're welcome anywhere, that you're unique. But if you look in their eyes, you can see they just think of you like a weirdo, a mistake. You wonder why you can't just be like anyone else, but nobody ever gives you an answer."

Hinata sighed as well, understanding what he meant perfectly. What he had described–it was felt exactly like her childhood. The stares, the discomfort radiating from other vampires, all of it came back.

"But that's just why I decided to do something about it," the boy declared with a defiant tone, snapping her out of her memories.

Her curiosity piqued, she turned her full attention on him.

"I swore I would make everyone accept me by becoming the... best supernatural ever," Naruto finished in a determined voice. "I will become strong enough to earn others' respect. That's my philosophy!"

Surprise came over the young vampiress. _He sounds exactly like…_ she thought, a far memory resurfacing in her mind. This boy's resolve and will… It reminded her of something in her past. And his objective was so similar to hers… Yet it seemed like he had cut himself off in the middle of his first sentence. It was almost as if he had been about to say something he shouldn't.

"Well, at least it was until recently," the blond supernatural amended, smiling.

Thrown off again by his words, Hinata was practically hanging to is lips (figuratively speaking). She watched as he sobered up a little, while still somewhat keeping his aura of determination. When he spoke again, he looked calmer; given his lack of hesitation, this was apparently something he had reflected on a lot.

"A while back, I realized becoming strong just for people to acknowledge you doesn't work," he explained. "My teacher and another person I'd met made me understand that in order to reach your maximum potential, you need special people to protect. People you'd give your life for. After learning about that, I chose a new way of life, if you can call it that. Never go back on my word, never give up, and protect the ones close to me!" he finished, grinning.

But it wasn't just a cheerful or amused grin. No, this grin showed Naruto meant every word of what he just said, as well as extraordinary willpower and an indomitable spirit.

She smiled as she looked at him in new light; she could practically see his soul glowing like the sun. She may have sounded a tad too poetic, but that was how she felt at the moment: like she was standing in front of a shiny beacon of hope and courage.

Kiba also seemed a little impressed by the new student's speech, so he decided to intervene:

"Well, don't go too fast, hotshot! If you want to be number one, you have to go past me first! And I won't just sit back quietly!"

"All right! Bring it on, dog-boy!" the guy replied excitedly. "If you want a contest to see who gets to the top the fastest, it's on!"

They both grinned at what seemed to be the beginning of a friendly rivalry. Hinata smiled as well, and glanced back toward Shino. She couldn't read his emotions, but he inclined his head, and it almost seemed like he was smiling behind his scarf.

The girl turned her head to the sky, feeling happier than she had all morning. They may have just avoided disaster, but she had a feeling the people around her were standing at the beginning of a new story.

A story she would take a part in writing.

* * *

 **Sorry for the followers if you feel this was too long a wait. Or maybe I'm just giving myself too much credit ;). I've been busy lately, but it should get better now that summer is here. Sorry if I'm boring you with my life ;P.**

 **I hope you like this chapter. If you can, please review; it really means something. But you're free to do whatever you want, people. Your choice, not mine.**

 **P.S: this is** _ **not**_ **an attempt to manipulate you into reviewing, or is it? 😦**

 **ThePunner**


	4. Chapter 4: The supernaturals of SH

The supernaturals of Senju High

 **Greetings, hopefully faithful readers!**

 **First off, sorry again for the long wait. Like I've said in my A/N, I've been busy with school, a vacation trip, and tangling with the archenemy of all authors–writer's block. I've had to define where this story is going, and get my ideas in place. But don't worry, I'm back.**

 **I'd also like to thank all of my reviewers. I'm glad to know you like this story. And also thanks to all the followers and favorites. Seeing these shows me people are actually reading this, which is another great motivation to write.**

 **Hope you enjoy this chapter.**

 **Disclaimer:** _ **Naruto**_ **, as a work, belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, not me. I do not earn any profits, financial or otherwise, from the creation and diffusion of this story, nor do I seek to obtain any.**

* * *

In a thick forest under a dark, starless sky, a vast clearing of black grass, at least two hundred meters in diameter, created an opening in the dense woodland environment.

A circle of great trees surrounded the open center of this space, made physical by a massive stump. The imposing remnant of a trunk, as wide as ten grown humans lying down, possessed light grayish-brown wood, almost the color of stone. The tall trees circling it all looked different, with varied bark, number of limbs, and height. Additionally, each emitted a glow of a different color, shedding a multicolored light on the grove. Yet all of them were connected to the cut-down shaft by an individual root.

A set of mysterious presences permeated this clearing, energies that felt like they had traversed millennia. Undeniably powerful, but radiating no signs of evil, the ancient essences came from from the circle.

However, strange things were going on with these life-forms. For example, cocoon-like plants were growing on the stump, each nearly the size of a human child. The roots connecting the ring of trees to the center had thickened, bulged even, threatening to unearth themselves, and strange patterns showed on them, spreading from the stump, almost like an progressing infection. Finally, some of the circle's trees' leaves had shriveled up or even fallen off, as if they too had been touched by a sickness of some sort.

All of these phenomenons seemed to greatly interest a lone figure, standing a few meters away from the arboreal ring. Seemingly undaunted by the powerful aura in the clearing, said person was walking around the grove, observing each tree and the colossal stump, as well as the unusual new features. Dressed in gray clothes with a leather armor over them, the mysterious individual did not turn its attention away from the central trees when a voice called out to him:

"Emperor Ashina?"

The speaker walked into the multicolored light of the clearing, said luster absorbed into his black trench coat. The scars on his face rippled as he went on:

"We have new information on the rogue vampire Nine captured. The prisoner has revealed his identity and the reasons for his desertion a few moments ago."

This time, the person in the center turned toward the one addressing him, revealing a tan, weathered face framed by long, white hair, a Π-shaped moustache, and a squared-off goatee.

"This one took longer than usual, Ibiki," he noted in a deep and aged voice. "Usually, you report to me only a few cycles after this. Must have been quite a tough nut to crack. That captive has brought us a whole lot of trouble so far, especially with the vampire delegates accusing us of 'transgressive assault'. You deduced their reaction correctly again, my friend. But I did notice the Hyūga were more vocal than usual. Did our guest's confession offer any explanation?"

"Yes, and it's some worrisome information," the black-clad demon responded. "This vampire is named Mizuki. He served as a simple teacher for their young until recently, and he actually gave in quite easily at first. Apparently, he's obtained data on the Hyūga's White Eye."

That last remark looked like it sparked the emperor's interest. However, his facial expression didn't shift from an impassible mask. Only his pupils narrowed to vertical slits, giving him a predatory gaze.

"What data?"

"He was carrying highly sensitive information when Nine caught up to him. It seems the all-seeing eye has a blind spot near the first thoracic vertebra. According to the traitor, its 360-degree vision doesn't cover the field aligned with this bone, which means, theoretically, that if someone with sufficient stealth skills could place themselves in the angle, they could get the drop on a Hyūga.

"Our captive said he felt unsatisfied with his position in the hierarchy, and he knew this information would fetch a hefty price if sold to the right individuals. So, after getting his hands on it, he apparently decided to desert and use it as a source of profit. You can see why Hiashi Hyūga would send the Soul Stalkers after him."

Ashina shook his head, caressing his beard.

"This makes things much more complicated than I thought," he mused. "Are you absolutely sure his confession was truthful?" he asked, to which Ibiki nodded.

"No wonder Hiashi looked so agitated at the meeting," the older demon sighed, lowering his head. "This information could land a serious blow to the Hyūga supremacy. Even other vampire clans would love to learn about this. The Uchiha have always competed with them over the strengths of their Visual Prowesses, so this could give them an edge in a battle between the two."

Suddenly, he whipped his gaze back to the interrogator and asked in a cold but furious voice:

"But if he confessed so easily, then why did it take you so long to come to me? Ibiki, I'm sure you know that these news puts our relations with the vampires on an entirely different level!"

"I do, Emperor Ashina," the target of this anger answered, unsettlingly calm. "However, Mizuki cracked a little too quickly, and that caught my attention. I'm sure the info he gave us was genuine, since my team didn't detect any lies. But I suspected he wasn't giving us the whole story, that he was holding out on us, telling us only a part of the truth and leaving something else out. I didn't want to give you an incomplete report on his confession, which would mislead us into making the wrong choices."

At this, the tall demon paused and lowered his head. He lifted his face after a few instants and went on:

"I also believed I could get him to talk shortly enough for this not to become a problem. Apparently, I underestimated his resistance. It took nearly half the interrogation working on him to break through his defenses. We even had to call in members from the Head's interspecies unit, like Inoichi Yamanaka."

" _You brought in a wizard clan head without my permission?!_ " Ashina roared, his voice lower and more... animal. " _Ibiki, you're overstepping your boundaries! I know Inoichi, and I can accept that choice, but still, you need to consult with me before calling on supernaturals as powerful as him!_ "

Fiery red and ancient writing characters had appeared on the ground around him, spreading outwards in a circular pattern.

"If you wish for me to be executed or imprisoned for that insubordination, sir, I will comply willingly," Ibiki responded stoically.

The demon emperor's fury seemed to boil down, and the strange markings retracted to his feet. He inhaled deeply, holding his breath in for an unnaturally long time, before breathing it out and speaking again, his tone having returned to normal.

"No, old friend," he sighed, begrudgingly. "I'd be a fool, and a tyrant, if I got rid of one of my most trusted advisers and companions like this. But you should've been honest with me."

The other speaker bowed his head to his leader's implicit praise, and proceeded to explain:

"I know that you would've preferred to be warned earlier, sir, and I don't really have any excuses for this. But with all due respect, we've both worked with the Yamanaka Clan for centuries, and they've never given any reason to distrust them. Furthermore, this was urgent, and I felt that officially requesting Inoichi to come here through you would take more time than the other option."

"Well, if you came to me now, it means that you've gotten the full story out of the prisoner," declared Ashina, apparently past the argument.

"Yes, and an alarming one at that," Ibiki affirmed, his expression hardening. "Mizuki's mental defenses were much stronger and more complex than we imagined, since he had talked easily under just physical torture. Given the fact he was just a middle-class vampire, we hadn't expected him to last very long. We were wrong.

"Three of our specialists worked on him for cycles. None of them got through. Physical torture couldn't break him anymore, and neither did psychological tricks. We decided to call for Inoichi after the seventh session. It took him a bit of time, but his clan's spell finally got us inside Mizuki's head."

After these words, Ibiki remained silent for a few moments, eyes closed.

"Well?" Ashina questioned impatiently. "What did you find out?"

"This vampire isn't just some random deserter. He's a mole," the interrogation specialist revealed, opening his eyes. "A spy planted by one of the most infamous supernaturals in the word."

The emperor's eyes narrowed in realization.

"The one responsible for 67 confirmed deaths, 157 disappearances, and Number 9 on the rogue hunters' list?"

"Yes," Ibiki said, grave. "Mizuki confessed our friend contacted him years ago, before the _incident_. Apparently, he promised this one a place at his table if he played secret agent in the vampire tribe for a while, reporting whatever he could dig up on the bloodsuckers. Of course, the idiot trusted an international criminal and acted as his little mole until he discovered the data on the White Eye a few days ago. He decided that info was important enough to break his cover and go to his boss himself. You know what happened next."

Ashina growled, a bestial sound in the back of his throat, which would have raised the hairs on the neck of any mortal. A category the dark interrogator did not belong to.

"That sick, twisted lunatic… What's he up to now?" he asked, apparently on edge.

"It looks like he's developed quite an interest in Visual Prowesses lately. Our sources tell us he's been acquiring information on the Spinning Eye ever since his desertion. However, we've also noticed his field of research also includes ancient supernatural families now, and not just those with special abilities like the Hyūga or the Uchiha."

The older one furrowed his brows. Then, his eyes widened slightly ever so slightly, and the odd symbols inscribed themselves at his feet once more, this time glowing golden.

"But that rat's always been interested in anything related to the supernatural," he objected in a tense voice, as if he already knew Ibiki's next words. "What difference does it make that he's researching on old clans?"

"Because, sir," the other demon responded, "the clans included in his research so far are those who have the closest ties to this place."

At this statement, Ashina's expression didn't reveal surprise, but sharpened instead, like he'd received the confirmation of a fact he'd suspected for a while.

"Well," he decided, "with that established, we have to go to the next level now. You know what you need to do, Ibiki."

The black-clad humanoid nodded, turned around, and marched back into the shadows of the forest, in which he seemed to dissolve.

The demon emperor waited until he was alone in the clearing before bowing his head for several moments. He then threw it back and roared.

It was a thunderous, terror-inspiring howl, somewhat similar to both a tyrannosaurus's bellow and a wolf's call for his pack. A call for gathering, for preparing. A call to head out and cross the night. A call to start searching, tracking a prey.

A call for a hunt.

* * *

Naruto chatted with Hinata and Kiba for the next ten minutes (Shino Aburame answered questions but never elaborated), discussing various subjects, ranging from their favorite movies or series to their experiences in the supernatural world. The young werewolf and himself talked the most, with friendly jabs and jokes accompanying their exchange. The blond hybrid was actually starting to like this guy. Sure, he could be a little boasting, but hey, he couldn't really peg him for that. Other than that, Kiba was fun to knock heads with, a lot like himself, actually. Brash, loud, determined, a little dense sometimes…

Now for Hinata. While she rarely intervened in the conversation, he kind of liked her too. Instead of seeming antisocial, it felt to him like she radiated this gentle, quiet feeling, almost subconsciously making him trust her. Didn't hurt that she apparently was very kind, could kick ass, and looked smoking hot either… It had felt quite good when he'd congratulated her for her brave action after the argument with Kiba (surprising the latter), which was what he had come to do in the first place. But he couldn't get himself crushing on someone here. Especially not on the daughter of the Hyūga lord.

Yes, he'd done his research on his classmates beforehand. Well, more like he had been _handed_ his research. Forcefully. Damn the old guy and his precautions. That geezer couldn't let him go to a new school without having him learn the names and background of all the supernaturals in it. Well, he only remembered the ones from his class, but who cared (besides the old man)? Naruto did have some memory issues, but none of his fellow students seemed to pose any serious threat to him. Sasuke Uchiha could become a problem, but he was still positive he could take care of him.

He focused on the talk again. Kiba was just finishing telling him about a hilarious event involving Shino and an old shopkeeper who hated insects.

"... and then, when she saw a bug crawl out of his coat, she totally lost it and started spraying insecticide all over him!" he laughed. "He never went near her her store again. Man, did I get a good laugh outta this!"

"I don't see any reason to joke about that," a low, slightly creepy voice suddenly interrupted.

Naruto turned in its direction and realized it had come from the one they were discussing. He shivered a bit. For some reason, the boy's stare unnerved him.

Kiba apparently didn't share his sentiment, since he turned to his friend with a grin.

"Aw, come on, man! Don't be such a sourpuss," he jested. "You lost what? Ten, fifteen bugs?"

"About a third of my hive was decimated," Shino responded. "Which represents approximately a hundred insects from a multitude of species."

The Beelzebub had spoken in the same emotionless tone as ever, body language completely neutral, but somehow, the blond could detect an edge of irritation coming from him. Instead of amusing him like with Kiba, it slightly scared him. He knew that he was stronger than the Aburame heir, but still, this clan creeped him out. Using bugs that could devour or poison someone without the victim realizing it… he did not look forward to the day he might have to fight a supernatural like that.

"Eh, you'll replace them, won't you?" the Inuzuka shrugged. "Doesn't your family have huge breeding environments or something?"

Shino's eyebrow seemed to twitch ever so slightly, and Naruto suspected he was giving the Inuzuka a glare behind his shades. The hybrid kept his smiling face on and started to back up a little. He did _not_ want a swarm of hungry insects attacking him. Stronger than the quiet guy or not, it was still a _really_ unpleasant experience.

A soft voice chimed in, drawing the blond's attention to Hinata.

"Kiba, I think we should be more respectful toward Shino's loss, even if we don't understand it. After all, these insects grew in his body, so they were practically an extension of him. It would be like for you or Akamaru to lose a hand or a paw," she finished.

Shino turned his head toward the dark-haired vampiress, while Kiba stopped chuckling and lowered his head like a child caught doing something wrong.

"Fine. Sorry, Shino," he mumbled.

Naruto found it interesting how just a few words from Hinata could get the two from bickering. She apparently held the role of a mother or big sister figure in the group, and also seemed very perceptive.

Enough for her to detect his supernatural aura when he'd suppressed it to a minimum, which was quite a feat in itself. And something else bothered the blond hybrid about her: the fact that she had made him lose control not once, but twice in the same day. In the stairway, when he had looked at her lavender pupilless eyes for a moment, his hidden energy had suddenly stirred and risen up like a whirlwind in his body without him calling on it, and he had barely managed to push it back down, resulting in her seeing his eyes change. The same thing had happened in the courtyard: when Kiba had stopped him from talking to her, he'd gotten riled up even faster than usual, and had even started to transform. Luckily, his explanation had made her assume that weird shapeshifting was from his parentage. But he still wondered why that had happened when he had learned to control this side of him a long time ago.

The boy was drawn out of his contemplation when he heard voices calling Hinata's name. He turned just in time to see a group of six heading their way. If he remembered their faces from the files the old man had given him correctly, they were all of the others supernaturals in their grade.

First came Sakura Haruno, a young pink-haired, green-eyed sorceress, reputed to be a prodigy in healing witchcraft. There was something about super strength in her file, but he couldn't remember anything else on that subject. Well, she didn't look like Superwoman, so he just shrugged it off ( **A/N: Huge mistake…** ). She was dressed in a simple red sleevless blouse, a dull pink apron skirt, and a hairband to keep her bangs out of her face. She certainly had prettiness on her side, though she could have benefitted from more cleavage in his opinion. He shook his head at that thought; his mentor had started to get to him lately…

Then there was Ino Yamanaka, another witch, this time from an important wizard family in Leaftown: the Yamanaka Clan. Her sheet said she had mastered the familial telepathic and mind-controlling spells, and that she had also studied healing, though not as much as Sakura. He would have to be careful about this one; he definitely didn't want her poking around in his head and finding out some things that should remain hidden. She wore a purple tank top, exposing her midriff, along with a short skirt of the same color. She was quite a beauty as well: long platinum blond hair with a flip covering a side of her pretty face, a slim body, and medium-sized chest… Damn his hormones and his teacher!

The two sorceresses were walking toward them with resolute but still inquisitive expressions, as if they wanted to find out what had happened no matter the cost. It was a different story when it came to the guys, however. Shikamaru Nara, the lazy wizard–he had trouble believing this guy was a genius, at the back of the group, looked like he would rather take a nap on a bench, but the glares Ino frequently threw him seemed to dissuade him. Chōji Akimichi, the plump werewolf, seemed perfectly content following the others so long as he could eat his chips in peace. Sai Ne **(A/N: "Root")** , the pale vampire with the soft face, black hair, deathly pale skin tone, and strange smile, was simpy drawing on a sketchbook, ignoring everyone around him. Finally, Sasuke Uchiha, the vampire prodigy, walked at the front, clad in a long-sleeved white dress shirt with the collar turned up and black pants, not paying attention to the glances Ino and Sakura threw at him.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. Among all of the supernaturals in his grade, Sasuke seemed like the most dangerous. His file had mentioned suspicions about him having joined the seeker-vampires a few years back, which would put him at least on an A-rank threat level. His mastery of the Spinning Eye was also quite impressive, the little hypnosis show he had put on earlier left no doubt about it. If the hybrid had looked at him in the eyes, even he would have seen his memories erased. In fact, the Uchiha vampire had forced him to reveal himself by avoiding his gaze. The blond knew Sasuke hadn't missed it, and if Shikamaru was as sharp as the files said, he would have noticed as well.

He mentally sighed. Only the first day of school, and he had already drawn attention to himself. Ibiki and the old man would not be happy…

As the six supernaturals stopped a foot away from them, Sakura was the first to speak.

"Hey, Hinata," the pink-haired witch started in a cheerful tone–but Naruto could sense it was forced. "We all just wanted to talk to you about what happened this morning."

"Actually, you two wanted to talk to her," Shikamaru muttered, yawning. "You just dragged us along."

"Quiet, Shikamaru!" Ino scolded. "We have to drag you along for practically everything, anyway!"

"Shut it, Pig!" Sakura in turn chastised the blond sorceress. "Now you've blown it!"

"Are you kidding me?" she retorted. "That sloth had already spilled the beans, and besides, you've only been confirming it!"

Naruto just looked at the two bickering girls, eyes switching from one to another like he was watching a tennis game. He wondered how long these two could go on, especially considering how unimportant the subject actually was.

Hinata put an end to this by clearing her throat.

"Um, Sakura, Ino?" she ventured. "You wanted to talk about this morning?"

"Oh, right!" exclaimed the healer, turning back to the dark-haired girl, Ino completely forgotten.

The hybrid was struck by how quickly she had stopped arguing with her companion. He turned toward Kiba, throwing his age-old clueless look. The young werewolf just grinned, shook his head, and mouthed: "Don't ask". Shrugging, the blond boy turned back toward the interaction.

Ino sighed, and began:

"Well, Hinata, we know what you told Shikamaru about your reasons, but since this guy has a tendency to fall asleep during conversations," she threw a glare at said boy, "we wanted to hear it from you."

The half-vampire once again launched her explanation (even though Naruto believed she had no reason to justify herself for saving innocents).

"And we were talking about this when Naruto got here," finished Hinata, throwing a side glance at him.

He wasn't dumb enough to miss the message. Meaning: _We'll keep quiet about the whole hybrid thing if you want us to_. The blond quickly nodded; he definitely didn't need to arouse interest from the rest of his classmates. He could tell Sasuke and Shikamaru were already watching him from the corner of their eyes. The last thing Naruto wanted was to have these two getting even more curious about him.

The boy put his hands behind his head, grinning widely.

"Yeah, I just wanted to congratulate Hinata here!" he exclaimed. "What she did was pretty heroic. Plus, she's got some kickass moves up her sleeves!"

The vampiress blushed and shook her head, muttering: "It's nothing". Still, she had that smile on her face.

Ino smiled and was about to say something, but Sakura cut her off.

"Well, that's all well and good, but I hope you realize there's gonna be trouble, Hinata," she warned. "The rules…"

"Jeez, Sakura, she knows!" interrupted Kiba.

Naruto turned to him, while the rest of the supernaturals did the same. The sorceress scowled at the brown-haired boy.

"I didn't ask you anything, Kiba," she retorted.

Unfazed, the Inuzuka werewolf went on:

"Me and Shino already talked about this with her, she knows about all of that crap, 'kay? She doesn't regret what she did, so get off her case!"

The hybrid decided to take part in the Hyūga's defense as well.

"Yeah!" he pitched in, earning the general attention. "Hinata showed us she's got plenty of courage! I think saving people no matter the danger is way more important than any trouble you can get in afterwards. Besides, if that rule prevents us from helping others, then I say it's pretty stupid!"

Hinata had smiled shyly during her friend's intervention, but when Naruto spoke, she started to blush and looked away. However, she turned her gaze back to him as he continued, and her smile returned, wider than before.

Sasuke chose this moment to speak up, still impassive, making Sakura and Ino turn their heads so fast Naruto worried about them getting cricks in their necks.

"And how would you know the way things work around here?" he asked coldly. "The only things we know about you are that you're not from around here and you apparently know about my Spinning Eye. Who and what are you exactly?"

The blond boy frowned. The Uchiha definitely had him on his radar, which could become troublesome later on. He chose the most reliable tactic he knew to defuse suspicions: acting like a hothead (which basically came down to forgetting his training and letting his natural personality show).

"Hey, you don't have to be so rude, you jerk!" he shouted. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm gonna be the strongest supernatural of all time, that's all you need to know!"

Once more, it had worked like a charm. Sasuke just scoffed, Sakura and Ino rolled their eyes, Chōji took another chips out of bag and Sai kept drawing. Only Shikamaru looked at him with what almost looked like interest for a minute, before yawning.

"Yeah, whatever, newbie," Ino butted in. "You actually think somebody's gonna take that seriously?"

"Well," Sai suddenly intervened, to everyone's surprise, "you might not get to be the most powerful, but from what I see, I think you have a good opportunity at becoming number one…"

Naruto perked up at this, grinning. Somebody was acknowledging him, just after meeting him! This was awesome!

"... starting from the bottom," the pale vampire finished, the ever-present smile on his face.

The hybrid took a few seconds to process this statement, but when he did, the years of self-control and restraint that had been drilled into him just went out the window **(A/N: This** _ **is**_ **still Naruto we're talking about…)**.

"What did you say, you bastard?!" he yelled, rushing forward. "I'm gonna make you eat those words right now!"

Suddenly, a arm clad in a white sleeve cut him off. The blond turned to look at his interceptor, and saw Hinata, looking at him with pleading pale eyes.

"Please, Naruto," she implored. "Sai doesn't mean to be rude, he just… has a little trouble expressing himself. Please don't fight."

Naruto usually didn't forgive insults, but his training kicked back in, and he decided that starting trouble with one of the supernaturals around here wouldn't help him blend in. He clenched his fists one last time and threw Sai a glare.

"Fine," he declared. "You're getting away lucky this time, flourface."

The vampire kept on smiling, eyes closed, as if they'd just had a friendly exchange instead of a trade of insults and threats. He looked out of place in his black top, exposing his midsection. Weirded out and disgruntled by the boy's strange and offensive attitude, Naruto turned his attention back to Sakura as she picked up the discussion from where it had been interrupted.

As the group chatted on, no one bothered to ask him anything else. It seemed he now classified as the "loud-mouthed and annoying newbie" in the young supernaturals' minds. Good. That would make his stay here easier. Unfortunately, though, he could tell Shikamaru kept watching him from the corner of his eye, occasionally joined by Sasuke, but he shrugged it off. They'd lose interest in him in a few weeks; they didn't have enough causes of suspicion to keep their eye on him for too long… Or so he thought.

"Hey, blondie."

Naruto and Ino both turned toward the Nara wizard, who had his stare focused right at the boy.

"Shikamaru," Ino growled, "I really hope for your physical health you're not talking to me right now, because you know PERFECTLY WELL what I told you about that nickname the last time you used it…"

"Man, quit being such a drag, will ya?" the black-haired boy shot back, scowling. "I was talking to the newbie. Anyway," he turned back to Naruto, "you never did tell us what species you were from. So, what are you?"

Time slowed down for the soon-to-be-found-out hybrid. He felt his heartbeat rise up slightly despite his best efforts to control it, and saw Sasuke lean forward ever so slightly. His brain was working overtime (which was still not fast enough), trying to find a solution to escape this situation.

"Attention, students!" a megaphone-enhanced voice suddenly shouted, making the entire group jump and turn to its source.

The speaker was a woman that looked to be in her late twenties, dressed in a green overcoat, her blond hair tied in two ponytails. Her more than generous bosom was contained, with some difficulty, in a grey blouse, which served as another means to attract the male student population's attention… as well as some individuals in the female population.

Her face was beautiful, but in a powerful, intimidating way. Her forehead bore a small violet mark in the shape of a diamond, and her full lips were coated with red lipstick. One fist holding the megaphone, the other on her hip, her brown eyes held an air of irritation, but also unquestionable authority.

This was clearly someone people would rise up to follow. Someone who commanded respect and obedience by her bearing and presence. Someone like Naruto's grandfather.

"The school is going to be closed for the next few days, until the firemen and the engineers can figure out if there is any other risk of explosion!" she went on. "We can't warn your parents directly, since the phone is inaccessible, so we ask you to call them yourselves, via cell phone, and tell them to pick you up. If you don't have a phone, you can borrow one from a teacher or a classmate. If they have questions, hand them over to me or to Mr. Hatake."

As soon as she dropped the megaphone, students started taking out their phones, going toward teachers or friends, or simply doing what teenagers did best—complaining. The supernatural group didn't make an exception. Kiba, Shikamaru and Chōji groaned (with the Nara muttering: "What a drag"), Sakura and Ino took out their smartphones (with flower-customized cases) after a bit of their own complaining, Sasuke and Sai wordlessly imitated them, and Shino simply stood there silently.

Naruto frowned and turned to Hinata, who was starting to fiddle with her fingers, apparently embarrassed.

"Hey, Hinata," he called, "who's the bossy lady with the megaphone?"

Startled, the young woman took a bit of time before answering.

"Oh, um, that's Ms. Senju, the head of the school," she responded.

 _Wait,_ Tsunade _Senju?!_ he wondered. _She's that legendary healer the perv told me about? The one he studied with? She looks like she's in her early thirties max! Either the geezer's finally gone senile, or she's using some sort of spell to look young. Ugh, I bet she makes guys fall for her without them knowing her actual age. Talk about the ultimate cougar technique…_ he shuddered.

"Well, I guess I should dial my godfather. Might not be a good idea to make her angry at me on my first day," he decided with a grin.

"Um… Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"Well… I'm embarrassed to ask this, but… after you're done, could I borrow your cell phone?" she pleaded shyly, cheeks red, eyes lowered. "My father doesn't really let me have one."

Even the most cruel and bloodthirsty demon in the universe would have quailed before such a sight, and Naruto had never been good at refusing demands from girls before. It was actually quite surprising he didn't kneel and hand his smartphone like an offering.

"Heh, you can use it right now, ya know," he chuckled. What were these tingles in his cheeks? "I'll probably have to call that lazy old man at least five times to wake him up. Here." He gave her the device.

The girl bowed her head with a whispered "Thank you" before walking away, stopping a few yards from her original spot. If they had been ordinary humans, the blond hybrid could have interpreted her gesture as an intent to isolate herself, but she had to know the distance between them would not hamper his hearing at all. So what was she doing?

She dialed a number and putting it to her ear. He used this momentary pause to shake his head. What was wrong with him? Was he really going to get a crush on the first pretty girl he talked to?

 _Okay, Naruto. This is gonna stop right now. You've just met this girl, you know she's basically a vampire princess, her dad's pretty much hostile to anything that isn't a Hyūga, and you're here on a mission. You're not a rookie anymore, and you're obviously not a thirteen-year-old human. You are_ not _blowing this operation because you wanna get all close and cuddly with a chick._

The half-vampiress' soft voice interrupted his flow of thoughts:

"Father?"

 _"Are you with your special friends?"_ a much colder male voice, nasal because of the telephonic transmission, questioned.

"Yes, Father. They say hi," Hinata answered, puzzling Naruto. What did she mean?

 _"Why are you calling me? You know what I think about phones,"_ the girl's father went on.

"I know, Father. But there's been an… incident at the school." She cringed a bit at those words.

Naruto vividly remembered that she had made a stairway collapse and used her supernatural abilities in front of humans. Sasuke might have taken care of their memories, but, as Kiba had told the young vampiress before, the Hyūga patriarch would definitely be furious when he found out a member of his clan, let alone his own daughter, had come so close to divulging the secret of their world to humans.

 _"Hold on for a moment, Hinata. I am receiving another call right now."_ And with those words, he distinctly heard the tone. singaling the end of the communication.

Hiashi had not even told her he would call her back. As his new friend pressed the hang-up button and lowered the phone, looking both relieved and apprehensive, the boy walked over to her, feeling compassionate. She definitely didn't seem to have the best relationship with her father.

"Are things gonna be okay with your dad?" he questioned, worried, as she handed him his device back.

The Hyūga sighed.

"I-I don't know," she confessed, lowering her gaze. "He'll be very angry, for sure."

"Is he going to punish you?" Naruto persisted.

"Probably…" she answered in a small voice. "Naruto, I really appreciate your support, but I still broke the rules."

The new student frowned, disliking the way she was blaming herself.

"You know," he began, catching her attention again, "there's something one of my teachers always used to say: in our world, those who break the rules are considered scum…"

Hinata lowered her head.

"... But," he went on, "those who would abandon even a single one of their friends are even worse than scum."

The half-vampiress' eyes met his once more, surprised at the turn.

"Hinata," he grinned, "like I told you before, what you did in that stairway was simply awesome. And if it doesn't make you an amazing supernatural, then it makes you an amazing person!"

The girl's pearly eyes widened, and pink colored her cheeks (if she had been human, the tint would have been bright red). The blond's grin widened, and he was about to add something else, when a slightly lazy voice cut in:

"Well, well, Naruto, looks like you _haven't_ forgotten everything I've taught you, then."

Said boy started at the interruption, startled, but his smile quickly returned as he turned around to face the newcomer.

"Hey, Master Kakashi," he greeted the silver-haired man. "Long time no see."

* * *

 **Aaaand we are done! Finally!**

 **Ugh, this chapter took** _ **way**_ **longer than I could have predicted. I hate writer's block!**

 **Sorry,** _ **again**_ **, for being late** _ **again**_ **. Summer's way busier than I thought.**

 **Anyway, here it is. Chapter 4. Soooo… Whaddya think? As always, if you want to shqre your opinion, you can leave a review, if not, your call. It's good to know people are still following this story, like I've said up there.**

 **Until the next update, folks!**


	5. Chapter 5: A new problem

A new problem

 **Oh man… *Gulp*. How long has it been this time?**

 **Zabuza: About two months, brat.**

 **ThePunner: AHHHH! Zabuza? What the hell are you doing here? And why did you just try to give me a heart attack?**

 **Zabuza: Well, I'm an assassin, kid. Making people's hearts stop is kind of my job. Plus, you're easy to sneak up on. You would've made a horrible ninja.**

 **ThePunner: I'm fine writing about you guys, thanks. What about you being in my mindscape?**

 **Z: I've been summoned from hell to kill you.**

 **TP: WHAT?! Is it one of my long-disappointed readers? WHOEVER YOU ARE, I'M SORRY!**

 **Z: HA! You really think someone's still interested enough in that thing you call a fic to hire** _ **me**_ **? No, the administration are the one calling the shots. They eliminate every author who posts more than one A/N as a chapter.**

 **TP: WAIT! Is this why so many writers disappear and leave awesome stories unfinished? After leaving an A/N to promise they'll post soon?!**

 **Z: Right on the mark. Now you definitely know too much. Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu…**

 **TP: AHHHH!**

 **Ahem.**

 **Yes, I'm FINALLY posting Chapter 5 of the Secrets of the Night! FIESTA!**

…

 **Okay, I guess it's kind of normal for everyone to forget about this story after a THREE MONTHS HIATUS! *Chokes*.**

 **I wanted to say sorry and thank you, guys. This year's been the toughest of my entire school career, and the workload was so heavy I actually thought I was gonna drop out more than once. Me choosing to start beta-reading didn't help out either. But I'm going to try and be quicker with my updates from now on. Can't promise anything, as usual, but Christmas break's coming up, so I might have more time. Things will definitely be better in April, when the workload will lessen a bit.**

 **I know what you're thinking: TP, you already made promises you couldn't keep, stop making us place any shred of hope we have left in you! Plus, April's like, four months away!**

 **Well, yeah. Sorry, but that's the best I can give you right now. Anyway, I'd recommend rereading the story from the beginning, since I'm willing to bet a lot of you have forgotten what it's actually about. I know, I know, my fault, but still, you should do it. I wanted to make it long enough, so I contended with mine archenemy once more: the Block of the Writer! OoO**

 **This chapter's mainly about introducing the people who already know Naruto. And I'm finally bringing in one of the best characters in the whole series, Boruto included (in my opinion)! So enjoy, because I did!**

 **Disclaimer:** _ **Naruto**_ **, as a work, belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, not me. I do not earn any profits, financial or otherwise, from the creation and diffusion of this story, nor do I seek to obtain any.**

* * *

Naruto was grinning at his former mentor, who was returning the favor, as far as he could tell. As always, his dark blue muffler was masking the bottom of his face, starting at the nose. A headband of the same color concealed his left eye, tied crosswise around his head (it had a stylized leaf sewed on it). As such, only his right eye was visible. The latter was currently closed in the shape of a "u": Kakashi was giving him his famous "eye-smile".

His clothes were the same as always: a camo green sleeveless padded jacket, a dark blue sweater with a red spiral sewed on the right shoulder, and dark blue jogging pants.

"So, Naruto, you've finally decided to stop playing around in that little academy of yours and to come to a _real_ school?" the man asked playfully.

"You bet!" the blond responded energetically. "I'm soooo done with that place! Mr. Umino was the only cool teach there. And I really wanted to check out Senju High, since I've heard some interesting things were going on here!"

At Kakashi's nod, the boy knew he had caught the hidden message.

Although he might have looked perfectly ordinary, Kakashi Hatake wasn't just the vice-principal of Hashirama Senju High School. He was also a former seeker unit captain, and one of the most dangerous vampires Naruto had ever met. He did not belong to any prestigious clan, yet even the high and mighty Hyūga considered him a prodigy. His most legendary feat consisted in having mastered almost every fighting style known to the supernaturals, be it hand-to-hand combat, weapons, hypnosis, or any other vampire power. Actually, his completely unremarkable appearance was one of his great talents. Indeed, although he could appear as a bit of an eccentric because of his masked face, nobody would ever pin him as dangerous-looking, an essential point for supernatural beings. Even his adversaries would be fooled, dismissing his impressive reputation as rumors. Naturally, most of these individuals had met a tragic ending, much to their short-lived surprise.

"Well, looks like you've already managed to make friends with Miss Hyūga. Guess it would be fitting for things to go haywire on the day you got here," he went on.

Said half-vampiress was fidgeting with her fingers and squirming on her feet, probably feeling quite out of place in the middle of this discussion, and certainly not understanding most of it.

"Hey!" the hybrid shouted, frowning. "I've changed a lot since last time! I've stopped painting the Monument and all of that stuff!"

"Really?" Kakashi inquired, skeptical. "I've got trouble believing Naruto Uzumaki can stop pulling pranks at the first occasion. Did your grandfather finally get through to you?"

"Sure he did!" the young man exclaimed.

His mouth then stretched into a two-mile long grin, with "trouble" written in bold capitals all over it.

"Now, instead of pranking everyone who annoys me, I just watch and wait for the perfect opportunity to come by. And when it does…"

He cackled in quite a worrying way. The air darkened around him, and lightning flashed in the background.

"Well… just ask Mr. Takashi about why he had to decontaminate my old school during three weeks. Actually, don't. He's still looking for evidence to arrest me."

The teacher sighed and shook his head.

"Great," he declared. "Now you've just taken the world of practical jokes to another level. Could you spare this place? We already have enough problems as it is."

"Ahh, don't worry, master!" Naruto answered, waving his hands in front of his face. "I already love this school! I don't regret coming here at all. First day, and I've already had a firework show!"

Kakashi chuckled.

"I see you're still the same knucklehead. Actually, I wanted to check on something with you," he added more seriously.

The young man knew that this change of attitude meant: "We need to talk. Right now." He frowned slightly. What was his old master doing?

Whatever it was that the vampire wanted to talk about, it must have been complex enough to warrant an open, undisguised conversation. Naruto turned to Hinata:

"Yeah, sorry about that," he apologized.

"Oh, um, It's fine," she assured, smiling faintly. "I-I'm sure you have a lot of catching up to do."

She had obviously understood at least a level of the situation, meaning their efforts to act inconspicuous had been partially wasted. Maybe that had been one of the reasons of Kakashi's behavior. The hybrid now knew for sure he hadn't been off the mark about those perception skills she seemed to have. They had certainly helped her join the seeker-vampires.

There was something else, though. It seemed like a voice was speaking from the recesses of his mind… He sighed when he understood where it came from, and proceeded to respond. However, that left even more puzzled than he had been to begin with.

* * *

Naruto's musings were cut short when Kakashi tapped his arm, motioning for him to follow. He did so, quite intrigued with what his old teacher had to share with him.

The silver-haired vampire led him to the corner of the courtyard, making him wonder what he had in mind. Just like him during Hinata's conversation with her father, the other supernaturals would be able to hear them as well… Or so he thought, until the masked man pulled out a small electronic device looking similar to a Bluetooth speaker, and pressed a button on it. A strange sound, not too far from pure static, or the noise produced by a waterfall, started… playing? resonating?

"White noise generator," the hybrid grinned. "Not bad. I thought you were all about the good old-fashioned ways, master? Are you finally catching up with the times?"

"Still disrespectful toward your elders, I see," the teacher replied, shaking his head. "This kind of technology is becoming pretty much essential in our line of work nowadays. I don't really have a choice."

"Yeah, yeah. So, what's the big fuss all about? You stopped trying to keep the 'chitchat' cover, so it's gotta be important. I've also got a feeling that Granny Principal over there is making the damage look a lot worse than it actually is. Am I wrong?"

Apparently caught off guard, Kakashi's one visible eyebrow shot up, before coming back down as he closed his eye, chuckling.

"I forgot that in that thick skull of yours, there's actually a pretty good brain. Well deduced. They really helped you grow, didn't they?" he suddenly questioned, his tone… regretful?

"I'm sorry about many things, Naruto," Kakashi went on, his one-eyed gaze lost in the sky. "I should have put more attention in your training. I was also assigned to Sasuke, you know," he added, much to the younger one's surprise, "since I could teach him a lot, for reasons you've probably figured out. I put a lot of effort into him, and I ended up neglecting you. I feel like you could have achieved that potential a lot sooner, if I'd been more responsible as a teacher."

Naruto took a moment to digest the news. The white noise was drowning out the parasitic sounds from the courtyard, creating a sort of blank canvas for his thoughts. And when he turned his gaze back to the famed vampire, he did so with a smile.

"Master Kakashi," he began uncharacteristically gently. "It's true that you didn't teach me a lot about martial arts, or how to use my powers. But," he continued, making his interlocutor look back at him, "you taught me what it meant to be a warrior, a member of a unit. Everything that happened to me when I was your student helped me become a better super… no, a better person. It's true that the two geezers made me progress, but you helped me grow up too. So, I'll say it: thank you, master. Thank you for these words you taught me. You helped me define what kind of person I wanted to be!" he finished with his trademark grin.

Kakashi didn't say anything. But he bowed his head, and eye-smiled.

"Anyway," he began, "now that we've gotten over the sentimental part, here's what I really wanted to talk about, which, you're right, is much too complicated to discuss through allusions and coded messages. I know you're here on some kind of mission. I don't want to hear about your objective, and I'm not asking you to reveal anything," he interrupted the blond, who was about to speak up. "But if I know your grandfather as well as I think, which isn't much, I'd bet on investigation or surveillance.

"There's something you should know, then: we're pretty sure that explosion wasn't accidental. You're right; the actual damage to the building isn't bad enough for Ms. Senju to close the school down. We've had to persuade the engineers with a little hypnosis. The real problem is we think somebody actually planned this."

Naruto took his time before responding, mulling over what he had just learned. The generator kept playing white noise in the background.

"Wait!" he suddenly exclaimed, eyes wide and alarmed. "Are we talking about a _special_ somebody here? Not just some crazy human who wanted to blow something up for the sake of it?"

"It couldn't have been a human," Kakashi answered darkly. "We found the janitor passed out near the container for the gas cylinders underneath the laboratory. When we took a closer look at the cylinders, we realized that they'd been switched with ones containing a pyrophoric gas called diborane."

"Dibo-what now? And what the heck does pyro-whatever mean?" Naruto questioned, confused.

"Have you been following chemistry class?" his former instructor sighed. "Pyrophoric gases give off explosive reactions when they're mixed with oxygen, meaning air, above fifty degrees celsius **(A/N: 122℉)**."

"That doesn't make sense!" the boy pointed out–quite loudly. "It can't be that hot in the chemistry room!"

"Good to see you've at least understood that much about physics. Here's what happened, from what we pieced together: after the gas cylinders were switched out, someone let a faucet open during the class. The diborane spreaded into the room, which also explains why some students were complaining about their chest tightening, being short of breath, coughing and wheezing, since it's toxic. Then, when it was all over the room, presumably the same person got close to Anko Mitarashi and somehow managed to heat the temperature up to over fifty degrees, which caused the gas to ignite."

Naruto's gaze hardened. Whoever was responsible for this had also endangered the entire Chemistry class by exposing them to a toxic gas. He or she should better be well hidden… Then, another thought jumped up to his mind.

"Okay, but how do you know for sure that a supernatural caused this?" he inquired, brows furrowed. "I mean, the heating part was a bit weird, sure, but there's no absolute proof that it wasn't a human with some sort of special blowtorch or something like that."

"True," Kakashi replied, "except that something about that explanation just doesn't click."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Anko's a vampire, Naruto," he sighed. "She's got a sense of smell about over ten times superior to a human's. And diborane gives off a disgusting sweet smell that anyone who isn't coming down with a cold can catch. Aside from the fact that the students missed it, she should have picked it up from the moment the faucet was opened. She didn't smell anything. Even with all the other chemicals in the room, that's completely abnormal."

"What happened, then?"

"There's only one explanation we've been able to come up with," the vampire declared somberly. "Someone hypnotized the entire class to limit their sense of smell so that nobody would smell the gas until it was too late. Now, you know it's practically impossible to put a highly-trained supernatural with enhanced senses like her under hypnosis, but if it's as subtle as altering their nose, she could have missed it."

"So you think someone switched out the gas cylinders, let that dibo-whatnot gas spread in the lab, hypnotized the Chemistry class, including Anko Mitarashi, and then made everything go 'ka-boom!' by making the temperature go over fifty degrees?" Naruto resumed, a bit skeptical.

"That's the best answer we've managed to find so far," Kakashi precised, shrugging.

Naruto reflected over what he had just learned. After all, it wasn't that unlikely. In fact, it was quite possible that things had happened exactly the way his former teacher had deduced. There was just one thing that bothered him.

"Okay. Let's assume you're right. Who would want to kill Ms. Mitarashi so badly they'd go through all that trouble?"

"We don't know yet. That's why I'm going to be leaving soon."

"Still working with the…" he began.

Kakashi cut him off by placing his gloved hand over his mouth, quick as lightning.

"Careful about what you say, Naruto," he warned. "Even with this little gadget," he nodded towards the white noise generator, "there are some things that shouldn't be discussed out in the open."

The young man nodded, and the masked vampire took his hand off. He then turned the generator off, signaling that their open conversation was over.

"Well, I'll be seeing you, Mr. Uzumaki," he declared, "eye-smiling" once more. "I need to check on the rest of the school, and spending time reacquainting hasn't helped me get ahead."

"Yeah, sure!" the blond chuckled. "See you whenever the school opens again, Master Kakashi!"

Both supernaturals walked away from each other after a final nod: Kakashi toward the group of teachers gathered around the principal, Naruto back to Hinata and her friends.

* * *

"Umm… Naruto? So… you know Mr. Hatake?"

Said boy paused, taken off-guard by the question.

It had been about ten minutes since his conversation with his old mentor; when he had met up with the other young supernaturals, the pearl-eyed vampiress had handed thanked him for lending her his phone, which, to his complete incomprehension, had earned giggles from Ino and Sakura, and made the other girl blush.

It was really strange for one of her kind to redden so often. Then again, Hinata was a bit strange herself, though not in a bad way. Added to her shyness and quiet attitude, it actually gave her an aura of mystery. Which was not all unattractive…

The group had then split up again, all toward the exit, where either their parents would be waiting or they would be heading home on their own. Sakura and Ino had gone off chatting (or were they arguing?), Shikamaru and Chōji had walked toward a nearby bench (where the former would probably resume his nap, and the latter keep eating his chips), Sai had plunged himself into his sketching pad again, Sasuke had simply gone out of the courtyard (hands in his pockets, in that insufferable "emo" attitude of his), while Naruto, Hinata, Kiba and Shino had stayed together as they walked out, chatting.

The werewolf and the Beelzebub had then left to go home as well, discussing the benefits of dogs (actually, Kiba discussed, Shino simply listened impassively), leaving the blond boy and the dark-haired girl alone to walk back up Butsuma Senju Street.

They had been progressing in a comfortable silence, occasionally broken by one of the young man's remarks or questions, which would be answered by a nod, a shake of the head, or a short reply. The young vampiress' laconic behavior, probably due to the anxiety of having to tell her father about what had transpired at school, had dissuaded him from speaking much, so he hadn't expected this interrogation.

Squirming, Naruto tried to come up with an answer that would fall within the limits of truth without revealing too much. It was difficult, as Hinata's opalescent gaze seemed to be able to read every one of his actions and words. He finally answered:

"Uh, yeah. He was my martial arts teacher when I was a kid, so I've known him for a long time. He was the one who told me the words I said to you."

"O-Oh, I see," she replied, averting her eyes.

Her cheeks hadn't colored, but he had deduced this was the equivalent of a light pink blush. He grinned: he hadn't added that Kakashi had also been tasked by his superiors to make him learn how to employ his… unusual powers.

"We kind of lost contact over the years," he went on, "so it was great to see him again. Even though he's a little busy right now with all the explosion stuff."

"Naruto… Are you from a clan?"

Once again thrown off by the inquiry, the boy rubbed the back of his head in an attempt to hide his discomfort.

"Why are you asking me about that?"

"Oh, sorry!" Hinata apologized, bowing her head. "It's just that… I don't really know Mr. Hatake very well, but I do know that he's very famous, and I was just wondering how you'd become his student."

This conversation was heading down dangerous terrain. He needed to change the topic, and quickly. Suddenly, the perfect distraction came to his mind.

"Aw, you're hurting me, Hinata!" he pouted. "You think there would be no chance for Master Kakashi to accept teaching me? Don't you believe in me? I thought we could be friends...'"

 _Nailed it,_ he thought as her pale eyes widened and her hands came up, waving desperately.

"No, no! That's not what I meant at all!" she exclaimed, distressed. "I was just curious, Naruto! I'm really sorry to have offended you!"

Naruto couldn't resist. He burst into laughter, confusing his interlocutor. Once he had finished, his lids opened again, though his grin remained.

"Sorry, Hinata," he chuckled. "I was just messing with you. Couldn't resist; I told ya I had a think for pranking."

The half-vampiress nodded, suppressing a giggle. He had managed to lift her spirits, making her forget about the upcoming discussion with her father. And it appeared that, after her initial panicked reaction, she also found it a bit funny. Most people the hybrid had known would have become irritated by his mischievous behavior; she hadn't.

He kept his blue gaze on her, reflecting about the discussion he had had approximately half an hour ago…

* * *

"So… has it worked?" a hoarse and shiver-inducing voice inquired.

"Yes, my lord," another individual answered in a much less sinister tone. "All is going on according to plan. From what we can tell, the Head has picked up the clues."

"What about her?"

"She's still alive, my lord. She escaped just in time. But our agent has gotten away undiscovered."

"I see… No matter. Her death was simply an additional satisfaction to be obtained. It changes nothing. Actually… I may have found some use for her. What about our little project?"

"The last one has arrived today. They're now all gathered in one place."

"Today, you say? Hmm…" the sinister voice mused. "It can't be a coincidence, especially considering who this one actually is. Fate must be coordinating these events. Whatever the case, it means our efforts are finally drawing to a close."

"How is the curse developing on your pet project, my lord?"

"Quite well, actually. Over the years, it had grown into his mind, seeping into his body. I can almost feel his sensations when he's in combat. Soon, he will be in my grasp…" it laughed, sending dreadful echoes resonating between the purple, engraved walls.

* * *

"Well, Hinata," Naruto announced, "I guess this is where you and me split up."

The pair had arrived at an intersection. To get back to the Hyūga's residence, Hinata would have to take the left, while Naruto had to keep walking straight ahead to reach his apartment building.

"Yes," she answered, turning her eyes toward him. "Uh, well, thank you for walking with me, and, um… see you whenever the school opens again."

Her nervousness about her upcoming announcement to her father had obviously returned, so he tried to be funny again.

"We'll keep in touch, right?" he asked, grinning. "I know you don't have a phone, but I thought we'd exchanged email addresses for a reason."

Having been a bit thrown off by the young hybrid's jokes at first, notably because of her stressed state, Hinata's tension had now sufficiently eased to allow her to keep her calm. She smiled, and declared:

"Well… I don't know. I'm going to be kind of busy. Who knows if I'll have any time at all?"

A good try, but Naruto had grown to be an expert at teasing. He took on a falsely hurt look, not overdoing it a bit.

"Hey, why are you being so cold? I was just trying to be nice, and now you're blowing me off! Is that how you treat all the boys you talk to?"

He knew he had succeeded again when an expression of pure contrition painted itself on her face. He didn't know why taking her off guard amused him so much, but he wanted to keep it up.

"N-No! Of course not!" she exclaimed, arms tucked to her chest. "I'm not trying to be cold, Naruto! I-I was just joking around!"

"Ha! Got you again!" he laughed. "Sorry, Hinata, couldn't resist trying that one. Hey, what's wrong?" he suddenly asked, genuinely concerned.

His companion had lowered her head, instead of smiling or giggling as she had previously in reaction to his attitude.

"Hinata?" he pressed, worried.

After another moment of silence, she spoke up: "Could you please… stop doing that?"

Her voice held fragility, as if she was about to cry. Not that much, but enough for Naruto to detect it.

"Stop what? Joking? Is it making you uncomfortable? I'm sorry!" he panicked. "You didn't look bothered, so I made a lot of them! I really didn't want to make you sad, please don't cry!"

Suddenly, a sound emerged from the half-vampiress' throat, but it wasn't the sob he feared.

It was a giggle, which soon erupted into full-blown laughter.

"Finally… got you!" she declared, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "Like you said, I couldn't resist!"

The hybrid's dumbstruck expression made her chuckle again, but she controlled herself. Said boy rapidly recovered, shaking his head.

"Wow, Hinata," he grinned. "You had me there. I honestly thought I'd said something stupid. Good job!"

The young vampiress had been simply gazing at him smiling. Then, for some reason, she abruptly looked away, cheeks reddening.

 _She looks kinda cute like that,_ the young man thought, before mentally slapping himself. _Not now, Naruto!_

If Hinata hadn't directed her gaze elsewhere, she would have noticed he had also blushed, imitating her, and was scratching his cheek.

They stayed in this situation for an entire minute, until Naruto cleared his throat.

"Well, I need to get home, so… see ya."

"Yeah… Me too," Hinata mumbled.

They both headed off in their respective directions.

* * *

When Naruto arrived at the building in which he lived with his godfather, he rang the intercom for five minutes, before he concluded that the latter was either taking a nap, outside, or otherwise engaged. He grimaced at that last thought: he definitely didn't want to stumble across his tutor and a woman playing cards again. That incident had given him nightmares for months…

Nonetheless, he couldn't stay in the hall for the remaining of his lifetime, so he sighed, took out his keys, and unlocked the door. One elevator ride later, he was standing in front of his apartment's entrance. He didn't hear anything, but he knew the flat had been soundproofed, so there was no safeguard, or indicator as to what he would find in here. Bracing himself, he inserted the keys into the lock, and turned clockwise.

As soon as the door had opened, he regretted his choice.

At first, he had been relieved. There were no lustful moans to be heard, the air didn't smell like sex, even to his enhanced nose, and no other sounds or sighing were hinting that any intercourse was going on.

But there were images of very scantily clothed females floating in the living room.

A trail of drool emerged from Naruto's lips, and he felt his cheeks blazing. A certain part of his anatomy was also waking up.

The posters were floating sheets, who appeared to be made out of actual paper. The young supernatural knew they were actually the product of a spell. However, the images on them had been what had caused his reaction: females of every possible bust size, hip width, bottom shape, and other bodily features were displayed over them, many in… attractive positions. His eyes widened when he saw that some of the models apparently weren't wearing anything. Blood began dripping from his nose, and his pants tightened even further.

However, he rapidly shook himself up, wiping his nose. He turned his gaze toward the man sitting at the table. Said individual was cackling wildly as he typed on the keyboard extremely quickly.

"Hey, Pervy Wizard!" he shouted, irritated.

He was careful _not_ to let his eyes fall upon one of these mature images… oh, great.

His interlocutor barely glanced at him before focusing on his work once again.

A tall man who looked to be in his forties or fifties, he had long, spiky white hair, which he kept tied in a waist-length ponytail. His white bangs were held back by a strange headband, with two horn-like metal prongs jutting from the forehead, and an old writing character sewed on. He wore red facial paint in the pattern of two lines falling from the corners of his eyes to his heavy jaw, like teardrop marks, with wart on the side of his nose. He was wearing an old-fashioned khaki dress shirt, matching pants, and a sleeveless red waistcoat over it.

"What do you want now, kid? I'm busy!" he declared… before bursting into a fit of suspicious giggling.

"Yeah, I can see that, you old pig!" the younger one yelled. "What kind of pervy new thing did you come up with this time?!"

"This is my new method for getting inspiration!" he proudly exclaimed, as if he had found the solution to the world's problems. "From now on, writer's block and I are officially not seeing each other anymore. Isn't it amazing?"

"Try amazingly dirty! You're making these go away right now, or I swear that computer is going to end up zapped!"

"You wouldn't!" the other gasped, horrified. "This contains all the chapters for my next book, and a few ideas for the future! Destroying those would be a cultural crime! Plus, we wouldn't have an income source anymore!"

"Oh, for the love of the God," Naruto groaned, exasperated. "You and I both know your porn novels aren't what's paying for the place. Gramps is! Your pervy writing _isn't_ safe from me, so better take your 'inspiration' out! One… Two…"

"Fine!" his interlocutor finally conceded, frustrated.

He snapped his fingers, and the provocative pictures finally vanished, allowing the young hybrid to finally regain control of his body. He let out a sigh of relief, though disappointment was also a part of it. That didn't escape his interlocutor's notice.

"Ha!" he gloated. "So you _did_ enjoy the show, you brat!"

"Whatever, pervert!" Naruto shot back, quite annoyed (and cheeks red).

Living with his godfather for all these years, and worse, having him as a teacher, had apparently led, like he had feared, to some of the latter's personality traits rubbing off on him.

Indeed, the man he had just (rightfully) called a pervert, whom he had threatened to destroy the work of, whom he was currently engaged in a death-staring contest with, was none other than his official tutor, Jiraiya. If one had been to judge him from the scene that had occured right then (which would have been understandable), they might have assumed that this person was mainly a lecher (which was absolutely true). However, over the past half-century, he had also become an almost legendary figure in the world of the supernatural.

Master Jiraiya, the Toad Sorcerer, who had come to be known as one of the Three, had earned his reputation during the Second Great Supernatural War. Known to be an exceptionally powerful magician, he had proved his worth more than once against the supernatural armies from the rival cities of Stonesburg and St Rain. He had made himself known not only for his fighting prowess, but also as a spy master, at the head of a vast information network, which stretched all over the supernatural-inhabited countries.

He had also been Naruto's second mentor, and the one who had actually made his skills advance. And, as such, the young man's grandfather had decided to assign him to his descendant as his tutor - at least, in the name of the human law, and in the eyes of the supernatural.

"Anyway," the hybrid cleared his throat, suddenly embarrassed, "there was an… ahem, an incident at school this morning."

"Oh no," Jiraiya groaned, putting his face in his hands. "What did you do? Your grandfather and I asked you to behave!"

"I didn't do anything!" he snapped back. "There was an explosion, and Master Kakashi thinks somebody planned it!"

His interlocutor raised his head, suddenly deadly serious. His black eyes spoke complete attention.

"Start from the beginning," he ordered.

After Naruto had finished, Jiraiya closed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You probably did the right thing by not calling me," he finally declared. "You never know, your cell phone might be under surveillance. Though I'm not sure about Tsunade's way of handling the situation…"

"Oh, yeah!" his apprentice suddenly spoke up, squirming. "I know, that was really… ahem, clever, wasn't it? Haha, bet you they didn't expect that… yeah…"

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes.

"You forgot to actually call me, didn't you?"

"You can't prove that!" Naruto defended himself.

"I don't need to," his godfather replied, sarcastic. "You're such a bad liar it's a wonder how you even got into the hunters at all."

"I had awesome powers! Plus, I'm incredibly handsome."

"And you've got a huge ego," Jiraiya snorted. "Anyway, for once, you being a muttonhead was actually useful…"

" _I_ 've got a huge ego?" Naruto protested. "You lick your own boots in your speeches each time you meet someone!"

"Ahem!" he cleared his throat, throwing his godson a menacing glare. "As I was saying, I don't know why Tsunade didn't inform me about this, but the situation's bad. You need to report to your grandfather about what Kakashi said. With the resources he's got, he might already know, but let's not take that chance."

The young hybrid sighed, but nodded. Jiraiya was right: the events that had occurred were too serious to be treated carelessly, especially in their position. He dropped his bag and grumbled something about just getting home. Then, he made a strange gesture with his hand: his little, ring and medium fingers flexed, while his index and thumb stretched outward.

Suddenly, a powerful aura flooded the living room. Its presence was so heavy that it became oppressive, forcing Jiraiya to unfurl his own magic power in order to resist being crushed by it. Thankfully, he had had much experience with this phenomenon, and his energy was strong enough to repress the other one, though immensely less potent.

Red light began to glow, covering Naruto's body. Said boy let out an animalistic growl, as his teeth turned sharp, his whisker marks grew darker and thicker, and his eyes became scarlet, slitted by a vertical pupil. The light then intensified, and began whirling in a swirl of luminous crimson, so bright the magician had to cover his eyes. When the glow had dissipated, he was alone in the apartment.

But lingering filaments of red energy, floating in the air, attested to what had transpired seconds ago.

He frowned. Somehow, something had seemed to be off…

* * *

In the immense clearing with the circle of trees and the colossal stump, a red flash tore through the dimness. The light had emanated from one of the trees.

It was the tallest of the circle, pulsating with a red-orange glow. At times, small golden flames burst from its branches, though the bark didn't bear any burn marks. The flash had shone at the base of the trunk, a bright red spot tall and wide enough for a human-sized being to fit in. As it faded, Naruto had materialized between the roots.

He promptly doubled over and fell to the floor, writhing in pain, as a bubbling, liquid-like red shroud encased his body. Right behind him, the tree began to glow brighter, and the bursting flames intensified.

For half a minute, he remained lying on the black grass. The vegetation was rapidly getting seared away by the crimson energy surrounding him. As for him, his muscles clenched, his legs and arms shook, and his nails turned claws dug in the earth, leaving deep gouges.

Finally, the incandescent aura receded, leaving him supine, in a imprint of charred soil. His skin appeared to be burnt, his clothes were smoking, his eyes were tightly shut, and he was breathing with difficulty, but his sharpened had reverted back to their original state, and his thickened whisker marks had thinned again. He seemed to mutter something under his breath.

As if they had waited for Naruto's struggle to end, glowing white writing characters spreaded like a spiderweb from a point near the tree (whose glow and flames had lost their intensity). In a flash of immaculate light, a figure materialized beside the hybrid. Medium height, long hair, gray and black garments…

Ashina, the Demon Emperor, crouched down to the younger one's side.

"Naruto!" he called. "Wake up, my boy!"

Said blond stirred. When he opened his eyes, the irides were blue and marked by a circular pupil once more. These orbs focused on the figure kneeling beside him.

"Your aura felt so out of control I had to wait until it had calmed down to step in," the latter declared, grave. "What's going on? You hadn't lost control in decades. Did you get into an argument?"

Naruto groggily sat up, rubbing his temple. His skin was healing itself at a visible rate, erasing the burns. He then shook his head and turned his gaze toward his elder again.

"No," he grunted, still a bit out of it. "He doesn't know what happened either. He just felt something strange when I summoned myself, and as soon as I got here, I felt like my body was exploding."

"What could have happened?" Ashina pressed, taut as a bow. "Think: did anything unusual occur today?"

His grandson laughed at that question, immediately regretting it when pain shot through his body.

"Damn, that hurt! Wow, Gramps, you're really losing your touch, aren't ya?"

"What are you talking about, son?"

"I hate to explain things twice, but here's how it goes…"

* * *

Unlike Jiraiya, Ashina remained completely motionless during Naruto's explanation. Not a single muscle twitched, and he didn't blink - not even once.

However, when his grandson had finished, his pupils narrowed to vertical slits, and a shiver-inducing growl escaped his chest as he pulled his lips back, revealing fangs under his mustache.

" _So, someone is trying to kill one of the Head's elite agents?_ " he let out, his voice lower and more rumbling.

"Looks like that," Naruto confirmed, swallowing with difficulty. "Uh… Gramps? Tone the bloodlust down a little, maybe?"

The emperor's growl died down, and his fangs retracted into more human-like teeth, but his eyes remained slitted.

"By the way," the hybrid added, curious, "when are you finally going to tell me who the heck the Head is?"

Ashina glanced at the younger supernatural. His expression had suddenly shifted from one of cold anger to slightly amused.

"Why would you need to know that?" he inquired, smirking. "You know we can't have anybody learning about her, much less who she actually is. You've already learned what his or her role is. Not a lot of supernaturals know this much, and even less are as young as you."

"I know, I know," Naruto replied, crossing his arms and pouting. "He, she, whatever, kind of oversees the supernatural clans in Leaftown, to make sure they don't go to each other's throats, and kind of manages the entire system."

"He or she also represents the city in front of other supernatural communities," the demon reminded him. "He or she is the equivalent to a human president."

"Yeah, except with a lot less rules and laws and all of that crap humans use to make their life more complicated," the younger one pointed out, pulling a face. "I really don't get them."

"It might be hard for us to understand human thinking, but I find their idea of democracy not that unattractive," Ashina admitted. "Pity it's completely impossible to put into action in our world. Well, with that said, we should get back on track: did Kakashi talk about anything else besides the diborane and hypnosis? Any suspects?"

"Nah. He said they'd try to figure it out, then he left. Plus, he's kind of circled down why I'm here."

"I suppose that was to be expected. I've met very few supernaturals as competent or intelligent as him. Either way, since he's working for the Head, he would probably have found out about it sooner rather than later. Anything else?"

Naruto hesitated for a moment, then decided it would be best to come clean now instead of withholding this piece of information now and suffering the consequences later on.

"Yeah. I… kind of got under Sasuke Uchiha and Shikamaru Nara's radar," he confessed, cringing.

Ashina's vertical pupils became even smaller, accentuating the impression of passing under X-rays.

"Explain," he growled. "And you'd better have a good one."

Once again, the hybrid's grandfather didn't display any human signs of irritation: no pinching the bridge of his nose, no brushing his palm against his face… But his gaze seemed to grow more and more inflammatory as Naruto gave him a complete report of this morning's events, and his powerful aura felt more potent than ever. When the latter was finally done, he felt like he was going to burst into flames under the glare.

"You've managed to catch the attention of the two smartest supernaturals at your new school in less than ten minutes."

A simple statement, yet the dangerous edge it carried was enough for the younger one to tense.

"Sorry," he mumbled, lowering his head. "But it was either that, or getting my memories erased, and I didn't feel like I could pull the acting off."

Seemingly for the first time since he had appeared, Ashina took a deep breath in, and the oppression from his aura receded.

"You probably made a good choice," he conceded. "Not the best one, but it should do. From what you told me, you were able to make at least a part of Sasuke Uchiha's suspicions disappear afterwards. Shikamaru Nara won't be fooled so easily, if I know his family well, but he'll be less of a problem than Uchiha. Now, as for Hiashi's daughter…"

"Wait, why are you talking about Hinata?" Naruto inquired, puzzled. "She had nothing to do with me getting noticed!"

The emperor paused, looking more closely at his grandson, then picked up:

"As I was saying, it's quite odd that she managed to make you lose control twice in the same day, let alone in the same hour. The Hyūga Clan includes very powerful vampires, and their White Eye makes them quite dangerous, but the only way she might have been able to disrupt your energy like that would have been to use her Gentle Fist on you. And even then, she would have had to hit very specific points on your body to spark this reaction."

"Soo… is it a good thing or a bad thing?" the hybrid asked, still confused.

"Neither of them, or both at the same time," Ashina pensively replied.

"You're really not helping me out here!"

"Let's just call it 'interesting' for now. We'll see what we can find out about it later on. For now, we need to investigate that explosion. The Head's forces might already be on the case, but we can make things go faster by lending a hand," he declared, rising - and showing no sign of being sore in any way, despite having stayed in a crouch for close to twenty minutes.

Naruto rose as well, with a great deal less pain and effort than before.

 _I guess there are a few perks to being half-demon after all._

"By the way," he added, brows furrowed, "why didn't you know about it before? Usually, I feel like I can't even take a bathroom break without you learning about it!"

"Mind your language!" Ashina chastised. "That's also something we need to talk about, since it involves the vampire you captured last night…"

* * *

 **Phewww! Finally done!**

 **So, this is the so-long awaited (or long-forgotten, dunno) Chapter 5 of** _ **The Secrets of the Night**_ **. Sorry to those who were expecting action, but we're still in the intro right now, and I can't really have people bashing each other's brains out yet.**

 **Anyway, you got a peek at a mysterious new character, and I finally got to bring in two of my favorite shinobi: I hereby name the Icha Icha duo, Jiraiya and Kakashi Hatake! Ahh, I love these guys.**

 **The story's becoming clearer and clearer: I've got new ideas, and I'm piecing everything together. My problem with writing quickly (which you've been experiencing these past months) is that I usually wait to get inspiration while I'm typing, which doesn't always, or even often, work. It also makes me lose a lot of time, because either I just draw a blank, or I write something crappy, realize how bad it is later on, and have to polish it.**

 **Please point out any mistakes I could've made in the reviews, CONSTRUCTIVELY (haven't gotten flames yet, but never hurts to be careful). I don't think one chapter can make up for… what? two, three months of hiatus, but I work on quality rather than quantity: I polish my chappies, and make sure my writing's good, before posting it. I want to give you passable stuff to read.**

 **So, if you aren't all completely pissed or haven't forgotten about me, please leave a review. As always… if… you want to. Damn, that gets harder to say every time.**

 **Peace out,**

 **ThePunner**


	6. Chapter 6: Two hybrids

Two hybrids, two clans, two species

 **A/N: The terms "traditional" and "ancient" refer to traditional East Asian elements of architecture or of any other artistic or aesthetic domain. These include ornamented windows, elaborate decorations on entrances or doorways, screened walls, tiled roofs, lanterns, statues representing spirits and the like… Although the Narutoverse's cultural elements are very much Japanese, the shinobi nations aren't located in Japan or even Asia, until otherwise proved, and this alternate universe follows the same principle. As such, using terms which refer to Earth's geography wouldn't be accurate, and would destroy the idea of an AU separate from our world. This is something I've seen in other AU fanfics before, where a real country or region's name is mentioned, and it completely brought down a significant part of the environment the author was creating in that fic.**

 **However, as the Narutoverse** _ **is**_ **referred to as Earth in the movie** _ **The Last**_ **, I might use this term to mention this story's world. Since the name's a part of the original work (reminder to those who might say "Yeah but** _ **The Last**_ **ain't canon" that Masashi Kishimoto wrote the script for the movie), using it wouldn't be incorrect. I might also make use of Japanese terms for non-geographical elements, such as clothing (kimono), weapons (kunai, makibishi) et cetera. Original characters( don't worry, I don't plan on having them as anything else than extras; they'll be very rare) will also have real Japanese names. If you go back and take a look at Chapter 2, you'll notice that I've changed the names of the two thugs assaulting Hinata from "Ed and Chuck" to "Echizen and Chūya". The reason for that is that although this is an AU, I feel like including Anglo-Saxon or any kind of Western name for a character or any cultural element typical of Japan would be straying too far from Naruto's original context, which deeply anchored in Japanese culture. Describing Japanese cultural elements, so long as the terms don't refer to Planet Earth's geography, doesn't violate the alternate universe.**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto, as a work, is the property of Masashi Kishimoto, not me. I do not earn any profits, financial or otherwise, from the creation and diffusion of this story, nor do I seek to obtain any.**

* * *

In contrast with Naruto, Hinata would have been overjoyed not to receive any answer over the intercom. In fact, she would have preferred not to return home at all. But she knew the consequences would only get worse if she ran from them. That had been one of the lessons she had taken to heart during her training. Facing her problems was always the better solution - or at least in most cases.

She wondered if this was the exception to the rule.

Her normally extremely faint heartbeat began to speed up as she walked down the road. She had left Leaftown's central area a while ago; her family's residence was in a luxurious area in the outermost suburbs, almost in the countryside. The isolated location had been one of the safeguards to the Hyūga Clan's secrecy. Additionally, this road was fairly remote from any of Leaftown's major highways and other axes of circulation. As such, cars rarely drove by, and when they did, the imposing environment usually dissuaded them from stopping to take a closer look.

The downtown apartment buildings and skyscrapers had been replaced with wide-open, rolling terrain, occasionally dotted with groves of tall trees. Hinata passed by wrought-iron fences, topped by gleaming gilded spikes, circling the vast and lavish grounds of traditional, elegant estates. However, she was less concerned about her surroundings, which she had already seen a hundred times over the decades, destroyed and rebuilt as the years passed, than she was about her current destination. Almost subconsciously, she began poking her fingers again, opalescent pupilless eyes lowering. That old tick hadn't resurfaced for years, and yet it had come back this morning. Another testimony to her anxiety…

She was utterly terrified by the prospect of telling her father about what had happened. However, unlike what she had let Naruto believe, it wasn't his anger she feared. After all, their previously nonexistent relationship had improved a lot over the last twenty years, and he had become slightly more considerate with her. Additionally, she wasn't the trembling little vampiress who couldn't even respond to criticism anymore. Her years of training and her experience in the seekers had hardened her, though they hadn't managed to completely erase her shyness.

No, what she feared the most was her father's disappointment. She still vividly remembered the dissatisfied gazes he used to throw her when she couldn't execute a set of Gentle Fist movements properly. These intimidating, soulless pale eyes, vaunted by her clan, had become a nightmare for her. He hadn't yelled at her, or beaten her, but his harsh remarks and disapproving glances had done their work. Being the heiress to the most powerful vampire clan in the city, and the expectations that came with it, hadn't helped either. She was still afraid that one single mistake would immediately ruin his improved opinion about her, cause him to give her that gaze again, and that she would become the failure of the Hyūga again, weak-willed and giving up at the first difficulty she met.

Hinata inhaled and exhaled deeply as she turned on the path branching off to the clan's estate. Unusual for vampires, this action nonetheless helped her evacuate a part of her stress. As such, she was able to walk up the rise with her usual fluid step. However, her stomach still felt like it was in a knot. She could already distinguish the gabled, straight inclined rooftops, dark blue tiles glinting in the sunlight. The eaves overshadowed traditional and ornamented windows, which, despite appearing to be made out of paper, actually hid reinforced glass panels.

The old compound, with its ancient architecture, had been built on a hill, along a north-south and east-west axis, as per tradition. It stood a bit further away from the road than the other manors. The location had not been chosen randomly: it was far enough from the rest of the neighborhood that it would allow complete discretion, while at the same time staying close enough not to draw attention. Its large, rectangular structure was partially hidden by thickets of pines and willows, preventing any cameras from getting a clear shot of the whole; another measure of secrecy. The high, white stone walls surrounding the immense grounds, topped by gabled wooden rooftops, made the Hyūga's residence look like some sort of fortress (this impression was further accentuated by its high position). Furthermore, she knew this was actually the case, as the security in this place, in terms of both technology and guards, made it a virtual stronghold. If a supernatural somehow managed to get past the numerous surveillance cameras and sound and infrared motion detectors, which would immediately trigger a deafening alarm if their field was crossed, he or she would not escape the White Eye-wielding watchers and their natural speed.

The Hyūga estate in itself could be a perfect symbol for the clan's way of life: traditional and luxurious by its size on the outside, but top-notch securitized and stern underneath. Compared to the other surrounding properties, the compound lacked much luster and pomp: no gilded gates, no extravagant infrastructure such as local observatories (yes, there was one of those in the neighborhood) came to liven up the white walls. No swimming pools, mini-kart or motorcycle racing tracks or any other sports accommodations were visible from the exterior. As such, an aura of mystery had settled over what the impenetrable walls truly hid.

When she was only seven meters away from the entrance, built in the southern façade, the video cameras turned toward her, alerted by proximity sensors. The tall metal double door was hidden under an ancient-looking cover of wooden planks; the ancient writing characters signifying "Hyūga" were inscribed in black ink on the wood. And when she reached it, a voice spoke from the intercom inserted into the stone frame:

 _"We have learned about what had transpired at Hashirama Senju High School this morning, Lady Hinata. Your father will be waiting for you in the library."_

Then it went off. But as cold and short as these words had been, they had completely reoriented Hinata's concerns.

They knew.

The panels opened with an electronic hum, letting her enter the grounds. She began walking up the elaborate cobblestone path leading to the main body of the mansion, a slight breeze lifting a few strands of her dark blue hair. As she did so, she let her gaze wander around the greenery-filled front yard. It was enclosed on three sides by three-floored, traditional-styled, white stone façades, the blue-tiled eaves at the top overshadowing part of the wall. Neatly mowed green lawn spread on each side, coupled with carefully pruned bushes and colorful flowerbeds, of which she could catch the fragrance from where she stood (thanks to her superior sense of smell). However, she didn't acknowledge the garden's simple yet enchanting beauty. For one, she was currently quite preoccupied with what she had just heard. Secondly, she had grown up in these surroundings, and as such was already quite familiar with it. And finally, she knew this part of the estate was simply another element of the Hyūga's façade as a rich human family: this was what they showed the rare visitors who made it past the entrance.

Visits from the outside were quite rare. To Hinata's knowledge, no more than ten supernaturals, either vampires who did not belong to the clan or any other species, had ever set foot inside the grounds. Even fewer humans had had that privilege. In the majority of cases, the latter had been human businessmen or politicians come to discuss affairs too secretive to be argued about in their downtown offices. From what she had deduced, these most likely involved illegal activities.

In any case, all of these guests had been showed to this carefully trimmed green space. But the place where the clan members spent most of their time was the beaten earth courtyard behind the building she was currently approaching. The Hyūga vampires mainly used this space to train and spar at full power - or at least as close as they could come to it. The walls and distance from the other residences prevented any noise caused by the superhuman exercises from reaching the neighborhood's ears.

Hinata also ignored the compound's impressive proportions or complementary infrastructures, merely shuddering when the image of the rectangular, wooden dojo standing in the corner of the courtyard came to her mind. She might have grown up in this environment, but that construction brought back too many unpleasant memories. She still vividly remembered the smell of old tatami mats, the unpleasant feel of the training garb she had been forced to wear, the roughness of her Gentle Fist master's hands and the sharp pain caused by his precise strikes. She recalled slipping while performing kicks, falling off-balanced as she sidestepped to dodge another attack, having her jabs blocked, her guard being too lax, her posture incorrect, her forms flawed…

Shaking her head in an attempt to drive the unpleasant memories away, Hinata refocused on the situation at hand. One the bright side, the clan already knowing about this morning's occurence allowed her to skip retelling the events to her father and the elders. On the other hand, however, they would have already made their own opinion from their intelligence reports, and she knew those wouldn't be in her favor. Indeed, any action even slightly endangering the supernaturals' secret existence was regarded as basic incompetence, if not treason. Consequently, she would have to argue and defend her actions against their criticism, and she knew from experience the latter would be razor-sharp. But the speaker had only mentioned her father. Maybe the elders would not be attending the meeting?

 _Please let it happen, please let it happen, please let it happen…_ she prayed. _Oh, this would have been so much easier if I could've told him over the phone back at school!_ she groaned - it might not have actually been the case, but it sure felt this way at the moment; at least she would have been certain not to face the elders then.

Hinata might have been on better terms with her father now, but the dusty old vampires that had never seen her as anything else than an unfit heiress and a Hyūga failure were another story. She still held a grudge (a rare thing in itself) against them for convincing Hiashi to pass on the title of future clan head to her little sister Hanabi. Firstly, they had helped to estrange the both of them, as Hinata had been deemed a distracting influence on the promising young vampiress Hanabi was, and had therefore been kept at bay from her sister. Furthermore, they had placed a mountain of responsibility and expectations on a thirty-five-year-old youngling (the equivalent of a seven-year-old human). As the eldest, Hinata should have been the one to bear that burden. She had felt like she had also failed at protecting her younger sibling, further worsening her self-esteem problems. As such, she had little to no consideration for the "old leeches", as she liked to refer to them inwardly. Of course, being in the unstable position she currently was in, she could not make her dislike for them clear, since they still held much sway over the decisions taken within the clan. But their absence would make the discussion infinitely easier for her.

The message hadn't revealed much. It had been cold, concise, and straight to the point, as expected from her clan. Vampires were known for hiding their emotions, and the Hyūga even more so. According to them, a vampire should never reveal what he or she was feeling to prevent their adversaries from using it against them. Nothing was even remotely original about this concept, but they had perfected this mastery over their countenance to an entirely different level. She had heard some humans jokingly wonder if the Hyūga had their faces frozen in a mask. And yet, given the world of conspiracy and manipulation vampires lived in, this was probably justified. Modern human politics and their complexity had probably been born because of the supernaturals hidden among them.

To this day, however, Hinata had never been able to completely mimic her clansmates. Her best attempts when she had been younger had only resulted in her shyness and reserved nature, and this had worsened the clan's opinion of her. She had managed to win their esteem back without killing her emotions, though this had considerably hampered her chances of becoming the heiress again. That could have also saved her many moments of guilt, self-disgust, and sadness after her missions, when she would have had to kill or torture people.

When she had been around sixty (twelve), at her lowest, she had even gone through a phase when she had refused to drink blood anymore, which basically meant starving herself. The sensation of sucking that warm liquid out of a living being had made her want to retch. She had heard some vampires enjoyed feasting while their prey was still alive, because, according to them, they loved to feel the life slipping out of the latter and into them.

She had had cold sweat at hearing that. To her, these practices bordered on sociopathic tendencies. But her own clan, if not especially supportive of them, did nothing to discourage them either. She had promised herself, right then, that if she ever became the head of the Hyūga - which had seemed quite improbable at the time -, she would forbid these habits.

Thanks to this objective, along with a few other ideas, Hinata had finally managed to push herself to change. When the days had been hard, when she had felt her resolve slipping, she had reminded herself of why she was making all these efforts, and her willpower had returned, though there had been many occasions where she had almost regressed.

She had overcome her disgust with blood through a progressive "rehabilitation". She had started with clinical samples in plastic pockets, then, with a bit of struggle, with dead animals, and finally, after nearly ten years, she had been able to feed off humanoid beings again. Still, she always made certain they were dead before eating.

That had provoked the clan's - and more specifically the elders' - contempt. What kind of vampire - no, what kind of Hyūga needed to actually learn to drink blood? This was one of their biological functions, inherent to their nature. However, Hinata hadn't been able to approach this problem otherwise. Her disgust with blood had been a mental issue which had nearly cost her her health. Having someone forcefully attempting to feed her, for example, could have dealt serious and irreversible damage to her psyche.

She had only been able to get past this disorder through long therapy sessions with Kurenai Yūhi or other vampire experts. The rehabilitation had been her teacher's idea, and despite the vast disapproval and disdain such a project had elicited, she had put it into place. And it had worked, although it had taken tremendous mental efforts and discipline.

Contrary to the Hyūga Clan's beliefs and affirmations, these kind of psychiatric problems were not that uncommon amongst vampires. However, those suffering from it often hid this "flaw" due to social and family pressure, which caused some of them to develop even more serious issues, sometimes turning into psychosis. Of course, Leaftown's vampire community had its fair share of mental health professionals specialized in treating disorders. After all, soldiers had to stay healthy in mind as well as in body. That being said, the impaired who had a tougher time healing would rapidly be removed from the active forces. Hinata herself had just barely avoided that fate on multiple occasions.

Hers was a cruel, harsh world. And she was about to dive right back into it, she thought as she walked up the wooden steps leading to the porch. Taking in one final, deep breath, and exhaling, she slid open the door of the estate.

 _I really wish we could have talked over the phone._

* * *

The next few minutes had been a blur. She vaguely remembered being greeted by servants - she hated to refer to them by that term - and politely reciprocating their bow. They must have relieved her of her bag and made her change into dryer clothes at some point (her attire was still wet from this morning's unrequested shower). Indeed, reality came crashing down on her as she was standing before the library's screened sliding door, clad in a navy-blue V-neck synthetic shirt and pants of the same color and material (the garb worn by most clan members for training).

If there had been another person in the vicinity, they could have sworn that the young half-vampiress' face had turned to an even milkier shade as she stood, still as a statue, her pearl-like eyes staring at the ornamented screen. Taking in a final, deep breath, she stepped forward, grasping the wooden frame and slowly sliding it open. She stepped inside, praying with all her heart that this meeting would be fast, if it did not go well.

She wandered down the lacquered-parquet aisles, brushing past bookshelves laden with literary works of all kinds: old and ornamented scrolls stockpiled together, musty tomes with yellowed pages, poems, novels, encyclopediae… This was one of her favorite places in the compound, the hideout where she could lose herself in imaginary worlds built on the power of words, forget any trouble she had encountered during the day, and simply _dream_.

Hinata didn't like feeling oppressed and anxious in a place she had so strongly associated with positive emotions. However, this was one of the common interests she shared with her father, who could also often be found in a corner of the library, nose buried in a scroll of some sort. Therefore, she had often encountered him in the narrow corridors; surprisingly, most of these meetings hadn't been unpleasant. That had given her another reason to love this age-old space, filled with the smell of paper.

 _Maybe Father wanting to meet in such a private place means he'd rather keep this on a more intimate level. Hopefully, that means not getting the old leeches involved,_ the former heiress mused, lavender-tinted pale irides scanning any nook and cranny of the place, searching for the clan head.

Finally, she stopped walking. As she did so, there was a brief movement in the aisle a few meters behind her, a soundless flash of fabric; however, Hinata did not appear to notice anything. Letting out a sigh, she closed her eyes for a moment, gathering the energy necessary to activate her White Eye. In less than the blink of an eye, a blurry, menacing silhouette materialized right behind her. Faster than the eye could perceive, the unknown figure reared its arm back, index and middle finger pointed in a deadly jab, targeted straight toward the half-vampiress's exposed back. More precisely, the exact space between her shoulder blades.

The first thoracic vertebra. The White Eye's blind spot.

Time seemed to slow down as the vague shape propelled the dreaded hand, the two fingers rocketing toward their target. If there had been a witness, they would not have had time to shout a warning. Hinata stood motionless, unaware of the danger.

And all of a sudden, the tables turned.

Quick as a lightning bolt, the young seeker leaned to the left, long strands of indigo hair rising in the air on the opposite side. The blow missed her spine ; unfortunately, she wasn't quite fast enough to completely dodge it, and the jab buried itself in her right shoulder muscle. Wincing in pain, she managed to spin around on her feet, completing a 180-degree turn in less than a second. As she did so, her left arm sprang up, initiating a back-handed knifehand strike. The blow traced a deadly arc toward her opponent's neck at blinding speed. However, before it could reach its target, a strong, calloused hand surged up, intercepting the attack by grabbing the wrist in a powerful grip.

Both combatants stood still for an instant, pearl eyes locked together. Teeth still gnashed together from the throbbing pain in her upper left arm, now dropping limp at her side, Hinata's sight had narrowed into tunnel vision. All she saw were inhumanely pale irides, a pupil faintly outlined in each of their centers, bordered by bulging veins on each temple. These frightening orbs gazed back at her with unbreakable concentration, under furrowed black eyebrows, bordered by crinkled skin.

 _Wait,_ she realized, _white eyes? With bulging veins?_

Her field of vision then widened again, allowing her to distinguish a milky pale face locked into a stern frown, mouth set into a thin line and jaw locked. The orbs staring back were identical to her own White Eye, except for their much milkier shade. Under a firm brow, a straight nose jutted out like a rocky projection from a cliff. An apt comparison, since the rigid mask of a face could just as well have been chiselled out of stone rather than flesh; this particular mask was made fearsome by the prominent veins streaking the sides of his face. The man's long dark brown hair, almost black, had been carefully brushed backward, leaving his face free of any strands, and fell down his back like a drape.

Hinata's beautiful face turned from resolved focus, brow knit and pupilless eyes narrowed, into an expression of shock and contrition. She pulled away, the other Hyūga releasing her wrist without a struggle. Taking a few steps backward, she bowed, her right shoulder once again pulsing painfully at the sudden movement.

"Fa-Father! You took me by surprise!" she stuttered, still facing downward.

"Raise your head, Hinata," a cold, commanding voice responded. "Do not bow before those that should assault you. By deferring to your aggressors, you will establish their superiority over you and comfort them in the idea that you fear them. Such behavior will only encourage them to assault you with greater motivation."

Cheeks slightly pink with shame, and her upper arm still hurtful, the young half-vampiress stood upright, facing her father, who had deactivated his Visual Prowess by now, letting his irides return to their base uniformity.

For a supernatural being holding such high positions in the hierarchy of the Leaftown community, Hiashi Hyūga wore surprisingly humble clothes when in the privacy of his home: traditional white robes, the top styled like a kimono shirt, leaving his pale toned chest exposed, with a green-brown overcoat draping his wide shoulders. (Strangely, this particular garb was mirror by his clothing when exposed to the eye of the outside world: a white dress shirt and similarly-colored pants with a more modern, elegant green coat over it all.) In such an attire, he quite a bit resembled a martial arts master. However, Hinata knew from personal experience that his ways of teaching were anything but gentle - ironic, given the name of the martial art he practiced.

Nodding, Hinata inwardly reprimanded herself, biting back a new wince of pain. This was one of the lessons ingrained in the education any young vampire of the Hyūga Clan received. However, in her own case, the respect due to her father and clan head, further augmented by her meek disposition, always outweighed this other teaching.

Opening her mouth to apologize, a sudden flash of insight made her reconsider. Not showing any deference toward her attackers also meant not offering any apologies, which would indicate she regretted defending herself and therefore made her seem vulnerable. Under her father's stern gaze, she instead chose to voice her interrogations.

"Could you please tell me your reasons for attacking me, then?" she inquired, straightening her back, her elocution devoid of any stutter. "If I wasn't in our home, I would suspect this to be a trap."

She had wanted to add _"Actually, why did you want us to meet in the library?"_ , but was afraid of overdoing her act and overstepping her boundaries. Gritting her teeth as another wave of pain spread down her arm and through her shoulder, she waited for the reply.

Nodding with approval, which quite pleased Hinata, her father answered: "In a way, it was a trap. A testing of your vigilance and reaction speed in case of a threat in a familiar environment.

The next words were a bit less gratifying. His milky white eyes narrowed, and his tone turned harsher: "You could say this was a consequence of the events relayed to the elders and myself earlier."

Hinata lowered her head once again, the throb in her shoulder a painful reminder of her double failure - her lack of judgement earlier this morning and her inability to successfully pass this test. This time, she could not hold back a slight groan as the fiery wave reached her neck. Her father seemed to notice her discomfort; wordlessly, he stepped forward, bypassed his daughter, and found himself standing behind her. The half-vampiress felt strong fingers gripping her right shoulder. Kneading the muscle with a vigorous but careful, if not gentle, touch, Hiashi relaxed the tense tissues and untangled the nerves which had been jammed by his strike. Hinata slowly felt her energy being Luckily for Hinata, he hadn't hit with the intent to kill. Otherwise, her right arm would have become essentially disabled.

Once he had finished, the Hyūga Clan's leader moved to stand in front of his eldest again, gazing coldly, though not quite harshly, at the latter. At first, the former heiress flet herself tremble a bit under his milky eyes; she feared her inappropriate response would end up in a much more difficult conversation. However, she reminded herself that her father seemed to have mellowed out, at least around her, during these past ten or twenty years. Proof of this softening was that he had chosen to relieve her of the pain from his attack before proceeding with the discussion. Therefore, she could allow herself to hope that things would go well enough for her not to receive some sort of punishment, or at least that it wouldn't be too severe.

Inhaling and exhaling deeply for the umpteenth time this morning, and straightening her posture, Hinata took the plunge and began a detailed accounting of this morning's incident, insisting on the fact that only a few students had glimpsed her when she had jumped, as most of their attention had been focused on the flames. She had hoped this wouldn't be necessary, but she had finally decided that giving out her full version of the facts would be a better option.

The half-vampiress finished her explanation: "... Only the other supernatural students in my class know about this. However, I don't know to what extent Sasuke affected the humans' memory. As soon as he broke eye contact, those who were staring at me looked like they had forgotten about me and began to talk among themselves. From what I saw, he could have either erased all memories of the incident in the stairs, or simply have made them forget about seeing me. You would have to ask him about that."

Despite her unwavering tone, she hadn't been able to muster the courage to direct her opalescent gaze directly into her interlocutor's, who had been silent throughout her report. Instead, she had chosen to stare over the latter's right shoulder, at the tag indicating the content of this section of the library. Apparently, it was old treatises, all related to… demons.

 _Hold on!_ she suddenly thought, pale eyes slightly widening. _Demons? Was he reading these before I came in? Is that why he wanted to meet in the library?_

However, before she could pursue her train of thoughts, Hiashi spoke up, redirecting her attention to him.

"I am aware of the way things unfolded," he declared, his face still a stone mask. "The young Uchiha's handling of the situation was commendable, and speaks volume of his capabilities and mindset. Yet this does not change the fact that you, Hinata, reacted in a way that endangered the supernaturals' secret. You purposefully used your natural strength in front of at least a dozen supernaturals, many of which possess superhuman sensory perception, and who were therefore able to witness your actions. They will no doubt inform their respective clans, which signifies most of the supernatural species in Leaftown have already learned about this _incident_ , as you put it. Needless to say your initiative was less than wise."

Directing her moon-like gaze toward the wooden floor (for the umpteenth time since the beginning of this meeting), Hinata felt the all too familiar twisting sensation in her chest at her father's words. She knew full well what feeling it stemmed from: shame. The very situation she had feared before entering the compound was coming to life, but a thousand times worse than what she had imagined. The same self-depreciating, poisoned thoughts that had plagued her during her childhood came rose again from the depths of her mind, where she had tried to bury them forever. Again and again, the impression of not living up to the expectations anyone held for her crashed into her.

For the first time in over ten years, Hinata wanted to cry. Sobs were bubbling in her chest, pain tearing up her throat from the inside. She felt like her Adam's apple was going to burst at any moment, like all the blood she had swallowed over the decades was going to sprout from her stomach and splash from her mouth. She felt like if she parted her lips, a scream so loud it would destroy the entire compound, and maybe even Leaftown as a whole, would erupt from her lungs. The thorny vines mangling her insides were unbearable, and yet…

And yet her father's ice-like gaze, frigid as the frozen tundras of the Ironlands, were keeping her overflowing of emotions tightly locked inside of her as securely as steel chains tying her up. Her upcoming tears crashed against the ice wall built by decades of discipline, self-control, and ingrained deference toward the being who had given her life and education. Now, the idea of letting any trace of weakness slip through under her father's gaze felt utterly impossible.

Not daring to breathe in front of him, the young half-vampiress clenched her fists with all of her inhuman strength and gnashed her sharp teeth together. The powerful feelings washed back down her throat, still burning, but no longer threatening to overpower her. Then, they slowly dissipated.

When she raised her lunar gaze again, she noted her interlocutor's face was still a chiselled façade. All the while, he had been staring at her, pupilless eyes analyzing her every movement and reaction. Such unnatural stillness may have frightened humans even more, but this was one thing Hinata _didn't_ fear - her vampire heritage _had_ done some good after all.

 _Was this a test?_ she suddenly realized, dread pooling into her stomach.

The last remnants of her moment of self-pity were immediately replaced with immense anxiety. Why had she believed this would be easier without the elders?

However, much to her relief, her father finally turned away from her, choosing to face the bookcase to his right. The one filled with works about demons… That reminded her of the subject of her thoughts when she had first noticed the tag - a welcome distraction from her internal state. Why was her father suddenly so interested with this species?...

A metaphorical light bulb went off in her head: _Of course! This must have something to do with yesterday night's mission. Since the demons are the ones holding Mizuki now, the classified information he'd acquired could have been compromised. Knowing Father, he's searching for a flaw in the agreement which puts the demons in charge of capturing rogue supernaturals. He wants to get Mizuki back before he talks too much._

"Additionally, Hinata," said vampire suddenly declared, breaking his daughter out of her thoughts, "this is an unfavorable time for demonstrating any weakness on our part. As I'm certain you remember, your team's failure to capture Mizuki yesterday night led to the demons taking him prisoner. You have been informed that the traitor had obtained extremely sensitive and classified intelligence."

The former heiress nodded, worried about what was to come. What kind of intel had Mizuki discovered? The Soul Stalkers had already been reprimanded for their incompetence; would there be more to follow? However, her father surprised her by branching off from the topic.

"My aggression from earlier was not simply a test to your reactions," he affirmed, directing his pale eyes back at her. "It was also meant to gauge your ability to defend yourself from an attacker who knew one of your weaknesses - the White Eye's blind angle."

Hinata's brow furrowed in confusion, before her own eyes widened in realization.

"He knows about the White Eye's weakness?" she asked, barriers forgotten, for once.

"Indeed," her father responded, fully turning to face her. "And there is a large probability the demons have managed to rip the information out of him. Which is why, as soon as I received your report, I petitioned for the Vampire Council to request the Demon Emperor to release Mizuki. As with you and your team, I only specified he had stumbled across extremely sensitive intelligence."

 _He must have pretended it involved the whole vampire community,_ the half-vampiress thought. _That's the only thing that could have convinced them. And there's no way he'd say anything about the White Eye's weakness. The last thing he'd want would be word spreading to the other clans._

"The reason for that precaution is obvious," Hiashi went on, still gazing at her. "While informing you and your cousin Neji of the true stakes of this retrieval could have provided you with additional incentive, the clan could not risk your teammates learning about it. As the risk of you two involuntarily or not revealing this to them was too great, the elders and I decided against divulging any specifics."

Hinata nodded. It was logical; while the Soul Stalkers were under the Council's authority, Sasuke and Sai didn't hold any allegiance to the Hyūga Clan specifically. Over the centuries following the supernatural community's foundation, Leaftown's vampire clans had united under the Council's single leadership, with her family currently being the most influential. But this was still a game of politics, and there were factions who wanted nothing more than to take that spot at the top of the pyramid. These parties would take advantage of the slightest chance to weaken and endanger the Hyūga, and this was the largest potential opportunity they would have had for centuries. As such, informing non-Hyūga vampires about the nature of the compromised intel was absolutely out of the question.

 _Even though that's_ more _proof that they don't trust Neji and me, either,_ she reflected, feeling quite discouraged. _What do I have to do to get a little credibility? If another seeker team from the clan had been assigned to this mission, would_ they _have been told everything?_

"Hinata," her father called, capturing her attention again.

His ice-like orbs had become even graver, if that was possible, and the half-vampiress could have sworn his white stony mask had cracked a bit to let a sliver of actual emotion slip through - although she couldn't determine if it was concern for her (a very enticing possibility, but highly unlikely, she told herself) or simply worry for the clan as a whole (which was much more probable).

"You can probably understand the impact these two mistakes will have on your record and your reputation," he declared. "I regret to inform you that the subject of you being placed into the branch family has come up again amongst the elders."

Hinata froze. For a moment, one could even have believed she was a full vampire. Her complete absence of breathing or of any movement whatsoever made her seem like a statue, as well as the alabaster white tint of her skin. This sudden and abrupt immobilization, however, was understandable, given the words the clan head had just uttered. The latter had simply revived one of her worst childhood nightmares.

She had heard human children sometimes had bad dreams about monsters. Ironically, monsters themselves had their own share of nightmares, many of which were significantly more terrifying than the humans'. Indeed, unlike the latter's, most of the time, they was a large possibility of them becoming true. That was the case for this specific scenario. The kind of degradation her father had just mentioned came with an additional package of shame, coupled with a fate judged worse than death by some. Despite the vampires' love for their long lives, the sort of life this exclusion led to was one of eternal servitude, and that humiliation was sometimes too much for such prideful creatures to bear.

This was the cherry crop on top of the cake. Her efforts, her struggles to improve for the past decades had all been completely meaningless. Her tear, her precious blood, her pain spent on her training had been condescendingly shoved aside. Each hard-earned success she had fought tooth-and-nail for was about to be reduced to oblivion because of _one_ mistake.

Strangely, her father proved to be the lifeline she needed in order to extract herself from the new surge of negative feelings. Once again interrupting the flow of her thoughts, he continued:

"While these tidings might be disheartening to you, remember that no decision has been taken yet. The minds of individuals, whether vampire, supernatural or even human, are easily influenced by circumstances. Just as the elders' opinion of your capabilities has tipped downwards," he pursued, seemingly spurred on by his daughter's interrogative stare, "you may shine in brighter light if you were to complete a task which would assist our cause."

Hinata noticed he hadn't included himself as part of the group that had been disappointed. Was there even the slightest chance her ice-cold father actually cared about her? More importantly, however, what task was he talking about? In her current emotional state, finding a way out of this situation felt impossible. And now, Hiashi Hyūga of all individuals was telling her he could offer her one.

"As I hope you've noticed," said clan head went on, unfazed by his interlocutor's reaction, "the section of the library we are currently occupying contains every parcel of information relating to the demon species that the clan has managed to gather over the centuries. It was no coincidence that I wished for us to meet in this location," he added, lunar eyes narrowing. "I'm certain you've deduced that this is linked to Mizuki's capture. At this point in time, we can pronounce the information the deserter had stolen to be compromised."

The young half-vampiress nodded, involuntarily bringing her gaze to the floor again. However, what came out of her father's lips next made her whip her head back up.

"Despite the appearances, that is in reality a positive element," he declared, utterly impassive. "This is due to the fact that we have the certainty the demons will not share this intelligence with any other faction. Their highly secretive methods and habits have left them isolated, with little to no allies amongst Leaftown's supernatural community. Therefore, we can safely affirm that no other species will come into contact with the specifics of these informations under any logical circumstances."

"But Father," Hinata dared to object, "how does that make this situation less compromising for the clan? Even with no other species knowing about it, can't the demons still become a major threat with this kind of intelligence? I-I mean… we haven't exactly been on the best terms for the past centuries," she finished, internally cursing her stutter for manifesting itself.

"You are correct, Hinata," her interlocutor replied, showing no reaction to her slip-up. "However, at the current moment, I am more at ease knowing the intelligence is in their hands than in anyone else's," he affirmed, showing no reaction to his daughter's gobsmacked expression

Never in a thousand lifetimes the latter would have seriously envisioned a Hyūga vampire saying those words - let alone the actual head! She had been playing down the bad blood between the city's two communities earlier. Resentment for the demons' extremely high position in Leaftown's hierarchy and the power therefore entrusted to them (as well as a fiercely denied fear of this species' phenomenal might) was so deeply woven into the clan's core that a member speaking about a possible peace between the two factions was immediately regarded with utmost suspicion by the elders. Her father himself, while never having been among the most radical anti-demons, had always been a defender of the clan's traditions. As such, hearing him speak this way was more than astounding.

"Let us truly broach the subject, once and for all," he abruptly declared, eyes hardening. "After debate, the elders and myself have come to the conclusion that Mizuki did not act purely out of greed or frustration from the vampire community's constraints. Neither his recent behavior nor his latest actions had betrayed any sort of prominent dissatisfaction of his position. Of course, we cannot fully rule out this possibility basing ourselves on that analysis. But certain evidence leads us to consider another hypothesis, which matches with the current circumstances."

Hinata's curiosity and impatience was reaching its boiling point. Despite his initial words, all her father seemed to do was dance around what he wanted to tell her. What was this new evidence that had pointed the investigation in another direction?

At last, he seemed to hear her unspoken question, and finally revealed: "We have discovered concrete proof of communications between Mizuki and the supernatural community of Cloud City. Although we cannot have any absolute certainty as of now, there is a possibility that Cloud City has set its sights on obtaining the White Eye again. And if this is the case, I am afraid you might be targeted, Hinata."

* * *

"No way!" Naruto exclaimed, vigorously shaking his head. "You've got a screw loose, Gramps!"

That remark was immediately met with a gaze that could have frozen hell over and a wave of bloodlust that had the young half-demon's knees rattling like a drumroll.

"Naruto, I've had quite enough of your familiarity and lack of deference for your elders and superiors," Ashina growled out - his controlled irritation was much scarier than an outburst of anger. "I've mostly abandoned hope of any notion of diplomacy getting through that thick head of yours. But that doesn't give you any excuse for bad behavior. It just makes your case worse. So if I were you, I'd work on keeping that loud mouth shut and sealed up. Understood?"

Paralyzed by the bloodlust, his grandson frantically nodded, eyes bulging with terror. Apparently satisfied, the demon emperor withdrew his oppressive presence, and the boy regained his breath, hands on his knees. Raising his head, he threw a glare at his interlocutor, who was sitting in his chair behind his desk, now looking completely he untied his sweat-covered kitsune-themed headband, a spot of red and khaki in the corner of his eye then caught his attention. Turning around, he discovered Jiraiya's unconscious shape lying on the wooden floor.

"Great! You knocked the perv out!" he accused, pointing his finger at his grandfather.

"Hmmm?" the latter let out, fingers crossed on his belly, eyes vaguely wandering over his old friend's supine silhouette. "I suppose you're right. He should work on improving his resistance to bloodlust; he's such a lightweight. Time for him to wake up!"

With those words, he traced a writing character in the air, the symbol appearing in glowing white lines. Once he was done, with a flick of the finger, he sent it hurtling toward the passed out body. As soon as it came into contact with Jiraiya's spiky white hair, the latter's body jerked as if it had received an electric shock. Eyes flashing open, the wizard immediately jumped to his feet, his head whipping from side to side, hands in a bizarre guard.

The trio was currently occupying a medium-sized office, located in a building which served as the main base of operations on the surface for Leaftown's demon community. Befitting the ruling family's demeanor, the furniture was far from elaborate, but the room was painted in a warm (albeit a bit aggressive) red, and many photographs and paintings were displayed on the walls. A wide panel of glass, almost spanning the wall's entire length, left an open view on the front of the property.

"Calm down, Jiraiya," Ashina spoke up, catching his friend's attention. "You passed out like a fresh-baked wizard apprentice when my bloodlust hit you," he added with a smirk (partially hidden by his mustache).

Rubbing the back of his head, one hand on his hip, the famed Toad Sorcerer seemed halfway between looking embarrassed and having just woken up from an alcohol-induced sleep (his crinled face indicated a throbbing headache). Sighing at the circumstances, he turned toward his godson.

"Kid, for the last time, could you please tune down whatever insane power you've got that makes every single person you talk to angry? I'm the one who's got to deal with the consequences!" he exclaimed, glaring at the blond boy.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," said hybrid dismissed, already focused on the initial conversation. "Gramps, I'm telling ya, there's no way Yugito did this!"

"Naruto, I acknowledge the fact that you're probably the one who knows her best in this city," Ashina began, leaning forward and placing his elbows on the desk, his gaze hard. "But despite your bond with her and the others, remember that she belongs to another community. As such, she has to obey the order that come from above, and as you know, Leaftown and Cloud City haven't exactly been on friendly terms during the past decade. I'm sorry to say this, but given the circumstances and the evidence the Head's forces have uncovered, she's the most likely culprit."

"Don't tell me you believe that kind of crap!" Naruto protested, clenching his fists.

Stomping forward, he slammed his hand on his grandfather's desk, causing the worn wood to crack. Unfazed by his interlocutor's sudden frown or his godfather's warning gaze, he did what he did best: speaking his mind loud and clear, his sky-blue eyes flashing with resolve and outrage.

"Listen, Gramps, I don't give a damn about what you, Master Kakashi or the Head think you've figured out. As long as you don't dig up real proof, like a recording of her saying she'll do it, I'll keep saying you're looking for snow in Windany!" he yelled out, glaring down at the demon emperor.

Jiraiya pinched the bridge of his nose, once again cursing his inability to teach his godson the vital survival skill known as tact. That talent would especially have been useful while facing Ashina, who, as a worthy upholder of the family's tradition, also had a bit of a short fuse. He could feel the headache from his latest loss of consciousness (which had only barely receded) already coming back at full force in anticipation of his old friend's next wave of bloodlust.

While he had grown to appreciate and admire his student's indomitable spirit and tenacity, right now, the boy was clashing with someone whose iron will was just as solid as his. And as Naruto should have learned from his physics class, an immovable object meeting an irresistible force always ended up… in a tremendous explosion.

Yeah… not a good way to continue the conversation.

This was why he wasn't surprised by Ashina rising up from his chair in a movement as swift as it was powerful, his pupils reduced to vertical slits, and his long white hair floating upward in filaments. A tsunami of murderous intent washed over Jiraiya, who, despite having the foresight of deploying his own magic power as a mental shield around him, was knocked unconscious again.

If he had managed to resist, his eyes would have met a sight that would have made them widen to epic proportions. Naruto was still standing tall and proud before his grandfather, seemingly unfazed by the killing urge that had just washed over the office - which had been at least five times as strong as the previous wave. The source himself, however, could see the young hybrid's throbbing temporal vein, as well as his teeth gnashing together to the point of turning into white powder. But his blue orbs, although now showing the fatigue due to the tremendous effort he had just made, still held that signature Naruto Uzumaki blazing flame.

Both slightly impressed and displeased, Ashina sat back down in his seat, his terrifying glare replaced with a gaze filled with curiosity and warning at the same time. He studied his interlocutor for a few additional moments, all the while during which the latter looked him back in the eye, before finally closing his eyes and sighing. Crossing his arms on the cracked desk, he visually ordered Naruto to sit down. Begrudgingly, his grandson ended up obeying, and plopped down in his chair, arms crossed as well.

"I can see the strength of your conviction, my boy," the demon emperor finally declared, his black eyes boring straight into the boy's blue ones. "This has both always been your greatest strength and a great weakness of yours. Your determination allows you to overcome many obstacles, yet it also makes you stubborn and hardheaded. That particular trait _has_ interfered with your judgement on multiple occasions. Don't try to deny it," he warned, instantly cutting off his interlocutor's imminent intervention. "This is one of the main reasons why I can't call off this lead on Yugito Nii based on your opinion. Do you understand?" he inquired, his tone firm as steel but managing to stay unantagonistic.

Naruto, who had just opened his mouth to give the old demon another piece of his mind, immediately closed it. And, as such a miracle seemed to happen every thousand years, he chose to think over what his grandfather had just said.

After a long time of mulling things over (seventy-three seconds, a new record), he finally spoke: "I get where you're coming from, Gramps. And I guess I should do the same thing if I were you. But like you said, I know Yugito probably better than anyone in Leaftown, and I'm telling what happened at school doesn't look like her at all!"

"And why would that be?" Ashina questioned, his gaze piercing, leaning forward. "Are you telling me she wouldn't agree to attack our community out of respect for her kinship with us?"

"Well…" he hesitated, looking down at his knees. "There's that, but also…"

"Enough, Naruto!" his grandfather brutally interrupted, banging his fist on the table. "I would have believed your time with the hunters had made you less naive about the way of our world, but I guess I was mistaken. Yugito may be a demon as well," he pursed, his voice rising, "and a member of the nine noble clans, but she remains a supernatural of Cloud City! Despite the fact that the demon clans have maintained closer relations than other species, we are still aligned with different communities! She isn't your ally, Naruto, and there are few chances of that happening within your lifetime. This discussion is over," he added, tone as frigid as ice, ending any will to contest from his grandson. "The case will be looked into by a squadron of hunters you will _not_ be a part of. Your mission remains the same: integrate and study the developments of the group of young supernaturals within Hashirama Senju High School. You are to stay out of the investigation concerning the explosion, and you are of course forbidden to relay any information about this affair you have learned or heard from our community. Understood?"

Faced with the full brunt of his grandfather's authority, sternness, and clear lack of consideration for his opinion, Naruto felt a mixture of emotions he was quite familiar with. Those were immense frustration, leading to anger, as well as hurt. These feelings were majorly what decided his next choice of actions. Rising from his chair in one brutal movement, he threw one last glare at Ashina, before spinning around on his feet and marching straight toward the office door. He had a very tempting urge to punch it out of its hinges, but even in his rage-fueled mind, he knew his grandfather's reaction wouldn't make it worth it. Instead, he chose to brutally pull the panel open, stêp over the threshold, and slam it shut behind him, causing the wood to crack around the corners.

Stomping through the corridors like a furious orange and black hurricane, the hybrid angrily pulled his headband out of his pant pocket, and abruptly tied it around his forehead again. And for an instant, the sewed kitsune on the piece of clothing almost seemed to glow orange as he raised his head, red flashing within his blue eyes under a knitted brow.

 _Screw you, geezer,_ he internally yelled. _Don't want me to get involved with your precious investigation? Fine! I'll prove you wrong on my own. Because no matter what, I know there's something fishy about what happened today. And it wasn't Yugito!_

* * *

 **HA, HA, HA, HA, STAYIN' ALIVE, STAYIN' ALIVE; HA, HA, HA, HA, STAYIN' ALIIIIIIIIIVE…!**

 **Ahem. So… yeah. This story is still going on. I think you've pretty much gotten what kind of writer I am. No fourth-wall Author's Note with crazy shinobi trying to kill me this time. I think my subconscious got the message through loud and clear: I'm worse than Kakashi at being on time.**

 **Kakashi: You should show some respect. Even** _ **I**_ **can keep a better schedule than what you've been doing for the past few months. Blabbering on about exams… If you're having trouble over written tests, I wouldn't want to see you participating in the Chūnin Exams.**

 **TP: I SAID NO NINJA SHOWING UP IN MY HEAD!**

 **You get the memo. Classes ending and all. Preping for the Bac. I know, I know, no more excuses. Well, not gonna make any promises. Thought this summer would be a good opportunity to get more writing time, but with Lady Inspiration's visiting rhythm and Writer's Block squatting most of my free time, I'd be happy to tell you a new chapter's coming in September. 2025.**

 **Anyway, if some people are still reading this thing, leave a review, maybe fave and/or follow, and I seriously don't know how to thank you.**

 **ThePunner out.**


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